Scientists Move One Step Closer To “Curing” Diabetes Using First-Ever Stem Cell Implant

Clinical trials have begun for ViaCyte's PEC-Direct, an implant that grows insulin-producing cells from stem cells to treat type 1 diabetes patients. If successful, the implant could eliminate the need for these patients to inject themselves with insulin.
No More Injections
The World Health Organization reports that more than 422 million people worldwide are living with diabetes, a condition that can take two forms. In the first, the body’s immune system attacks cells in the pancreas, preventing the organ from producing enough insulin [type 1 diabetes (T1D)]. In the second, the body doesn’t know how to use the insulin that is produced [type 2 diabetes (TD2)].
T1D accounts for roughly 10 percent of diabetes cases, and unlike T2D, which can often be reversed through lifestyle changes such as weight loss or increased exercise, scientists have yet to figure out how to prevent or cure T1D.
Right now, T1D is best managed by balancing insulin doses, but this method can be problematic in high-risk cases, taking time to act. Moreover, patients with hypoglycemia (low glucose) unawareness may not notice when their blood sugar drops dangerously low. Thankfully, researchers all over the world are hard at work looking for a cure that will free T1D patients from their dependence on insulin injections and from risky situations when their levels drop low.
Now, one group may have found such a cure.
Just last week, California-based company ViaCyte began trials involving two T1D patients who were implanted with the company’s PEC-Direct device.
Each of these credit card-sized implants car Continue reading

Rate this article

Total 1 ratings

Putting the Brakes on Diabetes Complications

Encouraging news: People with diabetes are living longer, healthier lives with fewer complications. What’s the driving force? Greater awareness and better control of risk factors are moving the needle.
We’ve come a long way in reducing the impact of diabetes on people’s lives. In the last 20 years, rates of several major complications have decreased among US adults with diabetes. The greatest declines were for two leading causes of death: heart attack and stroke. (People with diabetes are at higher risk for heart disease, and they may get it more severely and at a younger age than people who don’t have diabetes.) This is meaningful progress.
It’s important to note that during that same 20 years, the number of adults diagnosed with diabetes has more than tripled as the American population has aged. Diabetes complications still take a heavy toll on the health of millions of people and on our health care system.
Why Complications Are So … Complicated
Diabetes complications often share the same risk factors, and one complication can make other complications worse. For example, many people with diabetes also have high blood pressure, which in turn worsens eye and kidney diseases. Diabetes tends to lower HDL (“good”) cholesterol and raise triglycerides and LDL (“bad”) cholesterol, which increases the risk for heart disease and stroke. Smoking doubles the risk of heart disease in people with diabetes.
Take a closer look at these major diabetes complications:
Heart disease and stroke: People with diabetes are twice as likely to have heart disease or a stroke as Continue reading

'You can still do what you want to': Theresa May on how diabetes has changed her life

When she came down with a heavy cold in November 2012, former Home Secretary and Prime Minister Theresa May’s first thought was that she should get it checked out by her GP.
Her husband had just had a similar cold that had developed into bronchitis, so it made sense for her to get it looked at before the same thing happened to her. But she had no idea that this was a visit to the GP that would change her life forever.
While she was there, she mentioned to her GP that she had recently lost a lot of weight, though she hadn’t thought much about it and had put it down to 'dashing about' in her role as Home Secretary. But the GP decided to do a blood test anyway. Suddenly, she was being told that she had diabetes.
The news came as a shock, though looking back she realises she had some of the classic symptoms. As well as the weight loss, she was drinking more water than usual and making more frequent trips to the bathroom. But, it wasn’t something she thought about much at the time.
“That summer was the Olympics, so life was in a different order,” she says. “There was a lot more going on, so I didn’t really notice.”
She was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, but, when the medication didn’t work she went for further tests and, eventually, the news came back that she had Type 1.
The more people can see that people with diabetes can lead a normal life doing the sort of things that other people do, the easier it is for those who are diagnosed with it to deal with it
“My very first reaction was that it’s impossible because at my age you don’t get it,” she says, Continue reading

Pasta: To Eat, or Not to Eat?

One of my favorite foods is pasta. I think I could eat pasta every day and never tire of it. And when I’ve had a rough day, nothing comforts me as much as a plate of pasta with butter (or trans-fat-free margarine), Parmesan cheese, and freshly ground black pepper.
Yet pasta is much maligned in the diabetes world. I’ve noticed that people who have diabetes become very passionate when discussing this food. There’s the camp that is indignant at the idea that pasta even exists — it spikes up blood glucose, causes weight gain, and may just be responsible for global warming (OK, that’s an exaggeration). There’s another camp who still eats pasta, but feels horribly guilty for doing so, and will swear with their right hand in the air that, “I really only ate a half a cup” (and 99% of the time, it’s just not the case).
I don’t mean to trivialize the subject. Pasta can be tricky to fit into one’s diabetes eating plan. But not because it sends blood glucose levels to the moon. My belief (and you’re welcome to disagree with me) is that most of us struggle with portion control. It’s been engrained in us that pasta is a main dish: that it should be piled high on the plate and smothered in red sauce, with a crusty, buttery slice of garlic bread resting on the side. This is where the problems come in. Here’s what I mean. Take a look at the calories and carbs in the pasta meal that I just mentioned:
3 cups of pasta: 135 grams of carbohydrate, 663 calories
1 cup of sauce: 30 grams of carbohydrate, 185 calories
1 slice of garlic bread: 24 grams of carbohydrate, 170 Continue reading

What to Know About Long-Term Diabetes Complications

Living with diabetes brings many daily challenges and frustrations. You have to watch your blood glucose levels, pay close attention to what and when you eat, and take medications, including insulin. Added to that burden is the realization that if you don’t, your health could be seriously compromised in years to come.
Poorly controlled diabetes can lead over time to a number of complications. Some — like heart disease, stroke and kidney disease — can be life-threatening.
“The biggest one is cardiovascular disease,” said Arch Mainous III, a diabetes researcher and chair of the department of health services research, management and policy at the University of Florida’s College of Public Health and Health Professions.
Unfortunately, some damage may even occur before an individual is diagnosed with diabetes.
Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of people with diabetes; those with diabetes are up to four times more likely to develop cardiovascular disease.
“The problem is diabetes takes a long time to develop, and by the time somebody becomes symptomatic, they’re kind of down the road on some of these target complications,” Mainous said.
Prediabetes Is a Growing Threat
Because diabetes may hide in the body for years, millions at risk for the disease are not aware of it, Mainous said. In fact, a huge proportion of the American population — 39 percent, or 86 million adults — have prediabetes. And about 90 percent of those cases are undiagnosed, Mainous said.
“So there’s a whole lot more people at risk for developing diabetes, [but] if you identify these peop Continue reading