Drugs that block a protein called HCN2 may have the potential to provide much-needed relief for people with diabetes who have chronic nerve pain.

So concludes a study by researchers from King's College London in the United Kingdom, who report their work in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Diabetes is a long-lasting disease that arises when the body either cannot use or does not make enough insulin, which is a hormone that helps cells to turn blood sugar into energy.

The global burden of diabetes is rising. In 1980, around 4.7 percent of adults (108 million people) had diabetes. By 2014, this proportion had risen to 8.5 percent (422 million).

Many people with the condition experience diabetic nerve pain - that is, a chronic disorder that results from diabetic neuropathy, which is a type of nerve damage caused by high blood sugar.

Diabetic nerve pain is a complex condition with several symptoms that can include sharp shooting pains, tingling and prickling sensations, and extreme sensitivity to touch. The symptoms often start in the hands and feet before spreading up into the arms and legs.

The pain can be so bad that it impairs mobility, causing people to gain weight, which worsens the effects of diabetes and so sets up a vicious cycle.

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Researchers suggest that sodium - which we commonly ingest through salt, or sodium chloride - could increase the risk of type 2 diabetes and latent autoimmune diabetes in adults.

Diabetes is a common condition that affects more than 29 million people in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Type 2 diabetes accounts for up to 95 percent of all diagnosed cases and is characterized by abnormal levels of blood sugar.

This type of diabetes is most often diagnosed in middle-aged and senior people. Another metabolic condition called latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA) is often misdiagnosed as type 2 diabetes; it also appears later in adulthood.

LADA is a more slowly progressing disease, and it does not initially require insulin treatment.

A new study conducted by Dr. Bahareh Rasouli, of the Institute of Environmental Medicine at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden - in collaboration with researchers from other Swedish and Finnish institutions - now looks at the impact of sodium intake on the risk of type 2 diabetes and LADA.

The researchers have presented their findings at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, held in Lisbon, Portugal.

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