[Differential therapy with oral antidiabetic drugs]

The more than 3 million type II diabetics in Germany constitute a true therapeutic challenge. Type II diabetes mellitus is part of the so-called metabolic syndrome characterized by the problem of insulin resistance/hyperinsulinemia. Treatment of type II diabetes aims at reducing insulin resistance. Oral antidiabetic management must be based on diabetic diet, in conjunction--if needed--with monotherapy with acarbose or metformin. Only after exhausting these principles of management, acarbose or metformin may be combined with sulfonylurea. Primary monotherapy with insulinotropically acting sulfonylureas is, in most cases, no longer appropriate as we are learning more about the pathophysiology of metabolic syndrome.