There are two major types of diabetes.
Type 1 is when glands called the “Islets of Langerhans” – small spots in the pancreas just below the stomach – cease functioning; this may be because of a virus. There have been experiments with transplanting new ones, and I expect that might be the way forward there.
Type 2 diabetes is where your body becomes resistant to insulin; insulin is the substance made by the islets, and controls the amount of sugar in your blood. This is often associated with poor diet, lack of exercise, and being over-weight. Many sufferers find that if they actually lose weight and exercise, no other treatment is needed. However the other treatments are supplementary injections of insulin, the use of drugs to stimulate more insulin, or drugs to make your body more sensitive to insulin. All of these are treatments, not cures.
I’m not sure about a cure, although I think many things are possible. Better advances might come from completely understanding prevention of such diseases rather than finding cures. That doesn’t necessarily help people with diabetes, but can help a huge number of people who don’t yet have the disease.
There are two major types of diabetes.
Type 1 is when glands called the “Islets of Langerhans” – small spots in the pancreas just below the stomach – cease functioning; this may be because of a virus. There have been experiments with transplanting new ones, and I expect that might be the way forward there.
Type 2 diabetes is where your body becomes resistant to insulin; insulin is the substance made by the islets, and controls the amount of sugar in your blood. This is often associated with poor diet, lack of exercise, and being over-weight. Many sufferers find that if they actually lose weight and exercise, no other treatment is needed. However the other treatments are supplementary injections of insulin, the use of drugs to stimulate more insulin, or drugs to make your body more sensitive to insulin. All of these are treatments, not cures.
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I’m not sure about a cure, although I think many things are possible. Better advances might come from completely understanding prevention of such diseases rather than finding cures. That doesn’t necessarily help people with diabetes, but can help a huge number of people who don’t yet have the disease.
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You could be the scientist who works it out!
This TED talk is interesting it asks if we’ve been thinking about diabetes the right way around: http://www.ted.com/talks/peter_attia_what_if_we_re_wrong_about_diabetes.html
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