Type 1 Diabetes Breakthrough Using Stem Cell Research Raises Hope For Cure

Type 1 diabetes breakthrough using stem cell research raises hope for cure

Scientists believe they have made a major advance in the quest to find an effective treatment for type 1 diabetes.
Using human embryonic stem cells as a starting point, they have for the first time been able to create human insulin-producing beta cells equivalent in almost every way to normally functioning beta cells in the kind of large quantities needed for cell transplantation and pharmaceutical purposes.
Doug Melton, Xander University Professor at Harvard University, who led the work, said he hopes to have human transplantation trials using the cells under way within a few years.
The stem cell-derived beta cells are currently undergoing trials in animal models, including non-human primates.
Prof Melton, who is also co-director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, said a device being tested had so far protected beta cells implanted in mice from immune attack for many months.
“[While] there have been previous reports of other labs deriving beta cell types from stem cells, no other group has produced mature beta cells as suitable for use in patients,” he said.
“The biggest hurdle has been to get to glucose-sensing, insulin-secreting beta cells, and that’s what our group has done.
“We are now just one pre-clinical step away from the finish line.”
Beta cell transplantation as a treatment for diabetes is still essentially experimental. It uses cells from cadavers, requires the use of powerful immunosuppressive drugs and has been available to only a very small number of patients.
Professor Elaine Fuchs, of Rockefeller University, described the findings as “one of Continue reading

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A Diabetes Drug Has Shut Down Cancer’s Primary Way of Making Energy

In a study of 39 non-diabetic cancer patients, low-dose treatment with diabetes medication metformin resulted in a significant increase in tumor cell death.
Though more studies are needed before this can become a recommended cancer treatment, the results are promising as metformin produces almost no unwanted side effects.
A Welcomed Side Effect
While the typical side effects noted along with medications include upset stomach, headache, and difficulty operating heavy machinery, one medication used to treat diabetes has shown a far more positive unintended consequence: It helps fight cancer.
Researchers have observed that diabetic patients whose diabetes was being treated with the drug metformin had better chances of recovering from head and neck cancer than non-diabetic patients. During the course of a three-year study, which was detailed in the journal The Laryngoscope, researchers at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University examined this unintended side effect further and learned a great deal about how metformin affects the biology of cancer cells.
The researchers tested tumor cells in 39 non-diabetic cancer patients before and after they were treated with metformin in doses equal to half of what diabetic patients are usually given. While looking for molecular markers of cell death and changes in the metabolic pathways of cancer cells, which can make them more susceptible to standard therapy, the researchers noticed two things. The first was that the patients showed a significant increase in tumor cell death, or apoptosis. Secondly, cancer-supporting Continue reading

The 14 Best Foods to Control Type 2 Diabetes

We all know that maintaining a healthy diet is vital in terms of type 2 diabetes prevention and treatment. Generally, the advice given to diabetics is relevant to the general population as well: consume adequate vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains, low-fat dairy products, poultry and fish, and less industrial sweets and foods high in fat and salt. It is known that patients who use professional advice and expert dieticians and nutritional supervision have a much better chance to maintain balanced levels of sugar, and avoid the complications of the disease. Diabetics should also keep meals at regular times throughout the day to avoid sharp rises in blood sugar levels.
So what are the best foods to control diabetes and add to the menu? There are 12 foods that can help balance blood sugar in your body. These are olive oil, cinnamon, green tea, pulses, green vegetables and oats. These common foods that are already in our kitchen help maintaining adequate blood sugar and prevent diabetes complications:
1. Olive oil
Oil lacks carbohydrates, and therefore does not raise blood sugar levels. In addition, it slows the absorption of foods eaten along with the oil. Olive oil is rich Omega 9 and Omega 3 which help maintain the flexibility of blood vessels, allowing good blood flow. Also oil does not increase insulin levels, thus reducing the non-insulin tolerance that exists in many people and causes an increase in blood sugar levels. Find here more information about the great health benefits of olive oil.
2. Cinnamon
Many studies show that consumption of one teaspoon cinnamon (2.5 Continue reading

Splenda (Sucralose) Found To Have Diabetes-Promoting Effects

Promoted for decades as a "safe" sugar alternative, presumably to prevent or reduce symptoms of diabetes, Splenda (sucralose) has been found to have diabetes-promoting effects in human subjects.
The artificial sweetener sucralose, which is approximately 600 times sweeter than sucrose (table sugar), and marketed under a variety of brand names, such as Splenda, Cukren, Nevella and SucraPlus, has recently been found to have diabetes-promoting effects in human test subjects, despite containing no calories and being classified as a 'nonutritive sweetener.'
A new study published in the journal Diabetes Care, lead by researchers at the Center for Human Nutrition, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, set out to test the metabolic effects of sucralose in obese subjects who did not use nonnutritive sweeteners.
Seventeen subjects underwent a 5-hour oral glucose tolerance test on two separate occasions preceded by consuming either sucralose (experimental condition) or water (control condition) 10 min before the glucose load in a randomized crossover design.
The results were reported as follows:
Compared with the control condition, sucralose ingestion caused 1) a greater incremental increase in peak plasma glucose concentrations (4.2 ± 0.2 vs. 4.8 ± 0.3 mmol/L; P = 0.03), 2) a 20 ± 8% greater incremental increase in insulin area under the curve (AUC) (P < 0.03), 3) a 22 ± 7% greater peak insulin secretion rate (P < 0.02), 4) a 7 ± 4% decrease in insulin clearance (P = 0.04), and 5) a 23 ± 20% decrease in SI (P = 0.01).
In other words, a single dose of suc Continue reading

Diabetes Reflexology Foot Massage

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For over 100 years, massage has been recommended for diabetes. Relaxation from massage has greater than the rest alone. It improves circulation, thus useful for diabetic neuropathy and other complications.
Reflexology is simple to perform self-massage without any side effects. Additionally, it is beneficial in controlling diabetes and has numerous health benefits to your entire body. Reflexology for diabetes helps to lower their medicinal dosage to control blood glucose level.
High glucose causes & how the reflexology helps to relieve it?
High levels of blood glucose are due to defect in carbohydrate or glucose metabolism such as problem with stomach, intestine, liver, pancreas, or muscle cells. You can resolve it by stimulating certain organ reflex points. See the picture for the reflex points of the different organs.
Reflexology diabetes foot massage
Reflexology for diabetes include massaging reflexes of endocrine glands and organs responsible for glucose metabolism & damaged by hyperglycemia.
It is always preferred and advisable to start the reflexology treatment with massaging endocrine glands; which controls the entire bodily function. Then, massage the organs that might cause blood glucose rise. Finally, massage the organs that would be affected due to the high glucose level in blood.
Reflexology massage for Endocrine system
Pituitary gland - It is the master endocrine gland; its hormone controls other endocrine glands such as thyroid, adrenal, and reproductive glands. Endorphins secreted by the pituitary; acts on the nervous system and reduces pain.
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