Bariatric surgery, weight management and proper nutrition can cure type 2 diabetes because it is acquired throughout life; however, people diagnosed with genetic type 1 diabetes can currently control the disease only by regularly consuming food and insulin.
To solve this problem and find a cure for type 1 diabetes, several studies are being conducted on some possibilities that may have the desired response. See what these advances are.
- Embryonic stem cells are special cells extracted from a newborn’s umbilical cord that can be worked in the lab to become any other cell in the culture.
- So by transforming these cells into pancreatic cells.
- It is possible to place them in the diabetic’s body.
- Allowing him to recover a functional pancreas.
- Which represents the cure for the disease.
“Nanovacins are small spheres produced in the lab and much smaller than the body’s cells, which prevent the immune system from destroying cells that produce insulin. So, when diabetes is caused by this lack of control of defense cells, nanovacins can be the cure for this disease.
Pancreatic islets are a group of cells responsible for insulin production in the body, which are damaged in type 1 diabetics. Transplantation of these cells from a donor can cure the disease because the diabetic has healthy cells that re-produce insulin.
This transplant is performed without surgery, as the cells are injected into a vein in the diabetic patient’s liver by injection, however, it takes 2 or 3 donors to have a sufficient number of pancreatic islets for the transplant, and the patient receiving the donation must take medication for the rest of their life, so that the body does not reject the new cells.
The artificial pancreas is a thin CD-sized device that is implanted in the diabetic’s abdomen and causes insulin production. This device continuously calculates the amount of blood sugar and releases the exact amount of insulin to be released into the bloodstream.
It is made from stem cells and will be tested in animals and humans in 2016, being a promising treatment that can be used to control the blood sugar levels of many diabetics.
The pancreas is the organ responsible for insulin production in the body, and pancreatic transplantation gives the patient a new healthy organ, curing diabetes, however, surgery for this transplant is complex and is only performed when another organ needs to be transplanted. such as the liver or kidney.
In addition, during pancreas transplantation, the patient should also take immunosuppressive medications for life, so that the body does not reject the transplanted organ.
Stool transplantation involves removing the stool of a healthy person and passing them on to a diabetic, as this leads the patient to have a new intestinal flora, which increases the effectiveness of insulin, for this procedure the stool should be worked in the laboratory, washed and diluted in a saline solution before they can be injected into the diabetic’s intestine by colonoscopy. Therefore, this technique is a good choice for people with type 2 diabetes or prediabetes, but it is not effective for patients with type 1 diabetes.
Studies suggest that these treatments can cure type 1 and type 2 diabetes, eliminating the need for insulin injections to regulate blood sugar. However, not all of these techniques are approved for humans and the number of islet and pancreatic transplants remains low. Therefore, disease control should be achieved through a diet low in sugars and carbohydrates, with physical activity and with the use of medicines such as metformin or insulin.
Learn about the insulin patch that can replace daily insulin injections.