The national study intended to lessen heart disease by reducing blood sugar to regular levels, Raleigh (N.C.) News & Observer reported Wednesday.

One study leader at the Diabetes Care Center at the University of North Carolina Hospitals said they are immediately ending that element of the study.

In the study, 257 Type 2 diabetes patients who were subjected to intensive blood-sugar reduction treatment died. Only 203 patients, who received standard blood glucose treatment, died in a control group, the newspaper said.

The information translates to three more fatalities per 1,000 patients in the intensive therapy group.

Two other parts of the study of 10,251 people that reportedly aim to lessen blood pressure and cholesterol will carry on until June 2009, when the study is over.