Instapundit is relaying a report that says the diabetes drug Januvia may be carcinogenic. One component of the drug, nitrosamine, is supposed to be at a level of 37 nanograms per day according to the FDA, "...but to avoid any shortages of the diabetes medications, it is allowing up to 246.7 nanograms daily. The agency did maintain that cancer risk with the allowable increase is minimal."
So now, I have to check whether one of my drugs is Januvia.
Expect an update here.
UPDATE: so, I checked. No, I'm not on Januvia. I feel a bit sheepish about not checking all this sooner, actually, because it turns out I'm also off metformin (thank you, God)—been off for at least six months. Metformin, you'll recall, reduces blood sugar, but as Dr. Jason Fung pointed out, it doesn't make the sugar disappear: it merely drives it out of the bloodstream and into surrounding tissues, which is what happens with diabetes, anyway. Metformin is bad news. I have only one anti-diabetes medication, and it's something called Jardiance. The more technical name is empagliflozin. It has roughly the same function as metformin, but I don't know the mechanics of how it works. Ultimately, the goal is to get off all meds, but that's going to be a while, especially as I continue to deal with willpower-related issues.
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