Diabetes in the Future: How Technology Is Shaping That Elusive "Cure"

As diabetics we all imagine a day in the future when a cure for diabetes becomes a reality.



What you may find surprising is that day is not a pipe dream and it is possibly much closer than you may think. The unknown element is what form that "cure" may take.



There is research going on all over the world into dozens of different possibilities, many of which are looking at using the latest technology to effectively cure the condition.



Lets take a look at the ones which are closest to succeeding and the ones which, whilst much further away, hold the most promise:



Closing the Loop



This is a method being developed by most medical device companies that seeks to combine the use of an insulin pump and a continuous glucose monitor (CGM). The CGM reads your blood-glucose levels by various methods (based on the type used) and then communicates wirelessly with the pump to dose according to what your body needs to maintain stable control. This is not a "cure" per say but is the next evolutionary step towards a "closed-loop" artificial pancreas that will operate automatically and mean that the patient is effectively relieved of the responsibility of testing and dosing. It's a curious and appealing idea and is certainly the one that you are most likely to avail of in the near future. Once the issues of battery life, cost and reliability of the CGM are resolved you'll hopefully find that this system becomes commonplace. Eventually it will be coupled with an implantable insulin pump that will complete the closed loop and make your diabetes basically invisible.



Glucose Responsive Insulin



This one is frankly fascinating and is a complete departure from the usual approach to diabetic "cures". A glucose responsive insulin, an idea that is being extensively researched by the JDRF, means an insulin that only acts when it is needed. So for example, you would take a single injection each day which would lay dormant in your body until you ate/exercised etc. It would then sense the presence of rising/falling glucose in the bloodstream and activate or deactivate to maintain normal blood glucose levels. It aims to deliver precise doses of insulin when and where it's needed, device -free and with minimal finger stick testing. It would provide a treatment for type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes where patients are using insulin.



Sounds amazing right? Well of course but there's a number of hurdles to clear first. For a start, a treatment like this has never been created for diabetes or any other condition and is completely uncharted territory for both science and regulation. There is a long way to go in terms of development and even when that yields results, there will need to be a lot of time spent gaining approval from many regulatory authorities. But the overall idea is incredibly bold and exciting. It's certainly one to watch!



Take a look at http://countdown.jdrf.org/Features.aspx?id=8589934727 to learn more



Stem cells



Otherwise known as "the holy grail"! If you haven't heard of stem cell therapy then I bid you a warm welcome to the planet earth as you have obviously been living under a rock, on Mars, with your fingers in your ears.



Stem cells are considered to be biological "master" cells that can be coaxed into becoming any tissue that is required. So in theory they can be turned into replacement organs, skin, bone or in case of diabetes- insulin producing islet cells.



The treatment would be administered to effectively replace the damage part of a diabetic pancreas and the patient would simply start to naturally regulate their own blood sugar as though they had never had diabetes. A truly "perfect" cure.



There is huge money and effort being poured into stem cell therapy in the hope that it will yield such a result. However it will take a lot of time and there is no guarantee of success a well as the fact that currently the creation of stem cells requires the destruction of human embryos which causes many ethical issues. However, if these problems can be overcome, stem cells represent the hope of many for a true cure for diabetes. But just like glucose responsive insulins, patience will be a virtue.



The very idea of a "diabetes cure" conjures up many emotions in me. The thought of someone simply giving me an injection and saying "that's it, no more diabetes" seems almost too good to be true. After all this time living with it, diabetes has become a way of life for me. Having spent the majority of my adult life testing 5-6 times a day, counting carbohydrates and adjusting multiple injections accordingly, it would feel very alien and possibly a little unsettling to leave that behind. But I certainly wouldn't say no if and when that "cure" does happen!



In the meantime I would encourage you to keep an eye on tomorrow but don't forget about today. Ignoring the day to day management of diabetes because you think a cure is just around the corner is a hell of a gamble. Make the most of today's treatments and help to make sure that you live healthily and long enough to get your hand on that holy grail!

CoQ10 and Diabetes - A Cure?

One of the most important nutrients necessary for the functioning of cells, Coenzyme Q10 is used to process energy in the body. It may also play a role in the development of certain diseases, including the mitochondrial diseases. There has been some interest in it as a treatment for diabetes due to possible increase in blood sugar processing and blood pressure, though the evidence is far from conclusive. In this article I'll look at the recent research to see if there is any possibility of using CoQ10 as a treatment for diabetes.



There is always interest in new treatments for diabetes, and CoQ10 does play a role in energy production and hence blood sugar processing as well. For instance, on the popular site Medical News Today, one user wrote in wondering if deficiency in CoQ10 is an actual cause of diabetes. He said that Type 1 diabetics' bodies' switch to using fat for energy, with an implication that their bodies' are not using CoQ10 for energy production like the rest of us. While this is just an admittedly unscientific opinion, what does the research show?



There has actually been some concern that CoQ10 supplementation may cause blood sugar to drop too low in diabetics, although many recent studies do not support such a dramatic change. Some studies have shown a definite increase in the efficiency of insulin secretion, although the jury is still out on whether this is sufficiently beneficial to diabetics.



That doesn't tell us much, does it?



OK. Let's dig a little.



On the National Center for Complimentary and Alternative Medicine website, CoQ10 is described as a possible benefit to the heart in diabetic patients, but that very few studies on the specific connection between CoQ10 and type 2 diabetes have been performed. A search of Google Scholar does indeed show few direct scientific studies. Leading us back to square one. The research is simply inconclusive at this point, so let's see if there are any indirect benefits for diabetics.



In an older study published in Alternative Medicine Review, CoQ10 was definitely shown to improve the health and survival rate of people with various heart problems, such as congestive heart failure. The study then goes on to call for more research into the effect of CoQ10 on diabetes; since the article is from 1996, it seems curious then that we have not had more research into this area by now.



Another fairly old study, which has since been supported by others, shows a significant decrease in blood pressure in a group of 109 patients taking CoQ10 supplements along with their regular blood pressure meds. Many of them were even able to stop taking some of their medications (Mol Aspects Med. 1994;15 Suppl:S265-72). Good stuff, but now we're moving away from diabetes treatment.



And unfortunately, that's where we stand right now. There just haven't been enough good studies specifically addressing any connection between diabetes and CoQ10. And what has been done is inconclusive. However, CoQ10 most definitely has a positive effect on heart health and blood pressure, and these can both be issues with diabetics. It is also considered a relatively safe supplement to take, with no known or suspected longterm dangers.

Diabetes - "The Final Cure"

The American Diabetes Association is America's leading voluntary health organization supporting diabetes research and diabetes education. ADA's mission is to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected. The ADA was founded in 1940, however, their efforts have been unsuccessful as diabetes continues to escalate with no sign of abating.



Rip's Bad Bikers, another well-known organization in the fight against diabetes makes a ride in October to raise money for research and treatment. Their efforts have done little to stem the escalation of diabetes.



Diabetes Facts:



o 20.8 Million Americans have diabetes



o 2,740 people develop diabetes every day



o 5.9 million Americans do not know they have diabetes



o Diabetes is the third leading cause of death by disease in the United States



o Twice as many women age 25 and older die from diabetes than from breast cancer every year



o 1 in 7 Hispanic Americans will develop diabetes



o 1 in 10 African Americans will develop diabetes



o Native Americans and Asian Americans have substantially higher percentage rates of diabetes than the U.S. population as a whole



o Diabetes is the leading cause of adult blindness, chronic renal failure and non-traumatic amputations



o The direct cost of diabetes is more than twice the direct cost of cancer and HIV/AIDS combined



The choice of good health is more readily available as Holistic Health Care (HHC) becomes main stream again. Here are some important facts that can improve your health for the rest of your life! For those with diabetes the choice is life saving.



A combination of herbs researched at a Canadian University for over 20 years was hailed by the Asian Diabetic Association as "The Final Cure for Diabetes." Research shows that a natural diabetes remedy can regulate blood sugar and eliminate the need for painful injections. The herbs Banaba, Guggle, Bitter Melon, Licorice extract, Cinnamon herb powder, Gymnema Sylvestre, Yarrow, Cayenne, Juniper Berries, Huckleberry, and Vanadyl Sulfate each have an important role to play in a scientifically engineered formulation that is proven to successfully go to the cellular level to lower your blood sugar level, lower your insulin resistance, and increase insulin production. This scientifically proven formulation is available under the brand name Diamaxol.



The diagnosing, treatment, and testing of Diabetes brings in over $10 Million Dollars every hour of the day to Doctors, Pharmaceutical companies, and testing supply businesses. With that much money on the line the medical, pharmaceutical and testing supply companies will go to extreme lengths to silence information about natural treatment of diabetes. It was widely reported that one company, which had successful results with an herbal treatment, was offered $30,000,000 to take the product off the market. Fortunately the recent education thrust on the benefits of natural health treatment has made it possible for companies with natural products to resist such pressure.



Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability (LOHAS) describes a $228.9 billion U.S. marketplace for goods and services focused on health, the environment, social justice, personal development and sustainable living. The consumers attracted to this market have been collectively referred to as Cultural Creatives and represent a sizable group in the U.S. Approximately 36 percent of the adults or 60 million people, are currently embracing a holistic lifestyle.



A recent survey asked people to select from five reasons to describe why they used HHC. Results were as follows (people could select more than one reason):



o HHC would improve health: 55%



o HHC would be interesting to use: 50%



o Conventional medical treatments would not help: 28%



o A conventional medical professional suggested HHC: 26%



o Conventional medical treatments are too expensive: 13%

Diabetes Cure: A Roadmap To a Reversing Diabetes

You First Need To Change Your Mindset



Traditional medicine teaches you to "manage" your diabetes. Everything in traditional treatment revolves around "controlling" your blood sugar. You will need a radical shift in how you approach things if you want to reverse your diabetes. "Managing the disease" and "controlling blood sugar" is not going to cure diabetes! Curing diabetes is a very obtainable goal but in order to reach that goal you must first make it your primary goal - NOT just controlling blood sugar. You need to get down to the root causes of the disease and fix THOSE. If you do this, your blood sugar will go down naturally.



Food Can Be Medicine and It Can Be Poison



Hippocrates, the ancient Greek physician, is known for saying, "Let food be thy medicine and let thy medicine be food." Food can literally cure disease or it can cause disease, depending on what you eat. People with diabetes have damaged their cell membranes through years/decades of eating toxic foods... and no, I'm NOT talking about sugar or fat. The endocrine system of diabetics is damaged and their hormones are out of balance. Eating the right food and eliminating toxic food like trans fat is literally like taking the right medicine and it will literally put you on the fast track to reversing your diabetes.



Start Taking Better Care of Your Emotional and Mental Health



When most people think about getting healthy and curing disease, they automatically focus on their physical health. However, you need to understand that your emotional and mental health very directly and emphatically affect your physical health. In fact, emotional and mental stress is the #1 overlooked cause of diabetes. Research has clearly shown that stress causes insulin resistance. It causes an increase in stress-related hormones which over time cause diabetes. Reducing stress will help cure your diabetes.



Exercise More But Not Necessarily In the Traditional Sense



It has been well proven that exercise can help with reversing diabetes. However, if you haven't exercised for a long time, the idea of starting to exercise may seem daunting. If you are feeling this way, I want you to remember that exercise does not have to be a high energy activity like jogging, lifting weights, or aerobics. Research has shown that just a small amount of low-impact exercise can reap a huge benefit. Just a simple walk in your neighborhood, a little yard work, or just getting out of the house doing light activities can make a world of difference.



Dig Deeper, Pay Attention To Details, and Don't Be Fooled By the Over-Simplification of Facts



If you get the right information, you will have the power to cure diabetes. You need to start digging deeper and understanding that details matter. Don't accept everything at face value. Don't rely on what you read in magazines or on the internet. The popular press often glosses over pertinent information - information that you need to really make a plan work. The press often omits important details and they almost always over-simplify to the point of not giving you all the information you actually need. You need to seek more detailed information whenever possible. You need to understand how important this is.



Take Good Care of Your Soul and Spirit



For some people this means being involved in organized religion. For others, however, this may mean something quite different: learning to take time to smell the roses, reconnecting with family and friends, pursuing hobbies that bring you great joy, visiting places that give you a sense of internal peace, exploring the wonders of nature, meditation, listening to 30 minutes a day of music you love, adopting a pet to share your life with, etc... Only you can decide what lifts your spirit and nurtures your soul. The point that I am making is that you need to make this one of the highest priorities in your life and don't let anything stand in your way of doing so.



Be An Active Participant In Your Own Diabetes Cure



Most people that have cured their diabetes have one thing in common: they took charge of their own destiny. If you want to reverse diabetes, It is extremely important that you do not blindly follow what your doctor (or anyone) tells you. Your doctor should be an important adviser to you but he/she should not be running the show - YOU need to be the one in charge. The opinions and approaches of doctors vary widely. Some doctors are more compatible with the goal of curing diabetes naturally than others. If you find that your current doctor is resistant to this idea, it is probably in your best interest to shop for a new doctor.