There have been many advancements, when it comes to diabetes and a treatment for it. From medications to therapies, there are all kinds of ways that are effective. The latest treatment comes in the form of a tablet.
It is very possible that a capsule of insulin crystals a day can stop the development of type 1 diabetes. In an international TrialNet study that followed relatives of individuals with type 1 diabetes showed rather or not oral insulin could delay of even prevent the disease.
Type 1 diabetes is different from type 2 diabetes because it is autoimmune form; this means that patients with type 1 diabetes will produce insulin-producing beta cells that destroy their own immune system.
Åke Lernmark, Professor of Experimental Diabetes Research at Lund University in Sweden said “We know that if a person has two auto-antibodies and one of them is against insulin, there is a 50% risk that they will develop type 1 diabetes within five years. It doesn’t matter how old you are. There are indications that oral insulin may prevent or delay the clinical onset of type 1 diabetes among individuals with auto antibodies against insulin, who are thus in the risk zone.”
Lernmark is referring to a study that was presented earlier in the year by Canadian and American researchers. This study ran between 1994 and 2003 and participants with relatives who have type 1 diabetes and at least two auto-antibodies, one of those being insulin, to the oral insulin or a placebo capsule which contained an inactive substance. The results proved disappointed at first because just as many people became ill with the oral insulin as the placebo group.
Lernmark said, “However, the subsequent analyses showed something different. Among those who had high levels of insulin auto antibodies at the start of the study, the oral insulin had an effect and the development of type 1 diabetes was delayed. The delaying effect lasted for as long as the participants took the insulin.”
It is undefined at the moment on how helpful oral insulin can be in stopping type 1 diabetes. Lernmark believes that a possible explanation could be that the immune system could grow accustomed to the lower daily doses of insulin and therefore, the insulin capsules could become ineffective.