The world's largest study of diabetes treatments has concluded that intensive blood glucose control protects against complications.

The therapy, using modified release of gliclazide, reduces the risk of kidney disease by a fifth and shows that the intensive strategy can potentially benefit millions of diabetics worldwide.

Diabetes mellitus afflicts 250 million people and is likely to shoot up to 380 million in 2025, according to the results of ADVANCE (Action in Diabetes and Vascular disease).

"We are facing a global epidemic of diabetes, we have now shown that reducing the haemoglobin A1c level (blood glucose control marker) to 6.5 per cent is a safe and effective way to reduce serious complications, particularly the risk of kidney disease, said Stephen MacMahon, director George Institute, Australia."

These findings appeared on Tuesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.