Diabetes study shows starkly different results

A week after the medical community was stunned by research showing that aggressive treatment of diabetes produced a higher death rate, a new analysis by a separate team has found that intensive treatment does not pose such a risk.

The take-home message from the studies -- the first led by U.S. researchers, the latest by the George Institute for International Health in Sydney -- is not one of scientific flip-flopping but one of taking a wait-and-see approach, doctors said. Neither study is the be-all and end-all of diabetes research.

"I think our current goal for achieving [blood sugar] control in patients with Type 2 diabetes is based on information accumulated over decades," said Dr. Kenneth Hupart, chief of endocrinology, diabetes and metabolic disorders at Nassau University Medical Center.

Read More