Diabetes clouds over statins' good news

A couple of weeks ago, we touted the terrific fringe benefits that people who take statin drugs are getting from these multi-tasking cholesterol managers. Statins now have so many positive side effects that some doctors joke about "putting them in the water supply." Among the goodies: protection against Alzheimer's, cataracts, prostate cancer, blood clots in your lungs and legs, and -- a biggie -- dying from pretty much any infectious disease. That's in addition to doing job No. 1 very well: preventing heart attacks and strokes.

So the cosmos must have had a good laugh when another statin study hit the medical news -- this time, announcing a not-so-good side effect: Women over 50 who take statins for years get more type 2 diabetes than women who don't. This is the fourth study to spot an increased diabetes risk among all statin users. Yep, men too.

Why do statins encourage diabetes? Figuring that out is next, and ideally, research will lead to a fix. Meanwhile, for most statin takers, the benefits still far outweigh the risks, something the new study emphasized upfront.

That said, if you take a statin (25 percent of Americans over 45 now do), keep your antennae up for early diabetes symptoms: feeling off-the-hook thirsty, hungry or tired; constantly hitting the bathroom; blurred vision or frequent infections.

And next time you have a checkup, get a test for type 2 diabetes.