Innovations in Diabetes

Diabetes is a serious illness that affects over one million Americans each year, and it is characterized by high blood sugar levels. Whether a person has Type 1 or Type 2 Diabetes, their body does not use insulin correctly, and if they don’t manage their blood sugar correctly, diabetes can become potentially life-threatening. Type 1 Diabetes is usually diagnosed in childhood or adolescence, and although it can be treated and monitored, there is currently no permanent cure. Type 1 Diabetes is caused by the body’s inability to produce insulin. Most Type 2 Diabetes diagnoses, on the other hand, come in adulthood. Those who have Type 2 Diabetes cannot accept the insulin that the body is producing, but certain lifestyle changes can make the disease better, or even cure it.

No matter whether it’s Type 1 or Type 2, an adult or a child, a diabetes diagnosis can be quite overwhelming, and means many significant changes. In recent years, many new innovations in diabetes have been created to help those suffering, and aid them in their treatments and monitoring of their disease. These include apps, trackers, monitoring devices, and even artificial organs, and they all offer different benefits for diabetics.

Continuous Glucose Monitoring

Continuous Glucose Monitoring, or CGM for short, provides a solution to one of the most painstaking and tedious parts of diabetes, which is the constant checking and adjusting of blood sugar levels. If a diabetic’s blood sugar levels get too low, they could experience symptoms of hypoglycemia, such as headaches or dizziness. If blood sugar levels become too high, diabetics could suffer from increased thirst and fatigue, indicative of hyperglycemia. CGM products monitor blood sugar 24 hours a day at specific time intervals, whether a person is sleeping or awake. The data updates dynamically, as it is collected. CGM provides the information that diabetes need, but they don’t have to work as hard to obtain it. CGM reduces the risk for serious consequences of diabetes and help diabetics with treatment plans and management of the disease.

Artificial Pancreas

Many different companies, including Medtronic and JDRF, have created their own version of what is often referred to as an artificial pancreas. The device isn’t inside the diabetic, like the real pancreas is, but is worn on the outside of the body. The development of the artificial pancreas is so significant because it allows for diabetics to not worry so much about constant monitoring of blood sugar levels.The artificial pancreas uses CGM, but it adds an insulin pump to create a new kind of invention. The device is able to tell when the body needs insulin, and can administer the right amount at the right time, much like an actual pancreas would do. The artificial pancreas takes CGM a step further and puts many fears of low or high blood sugar levels to rest.

Stem Cell Implants

Researchers and medical professionals have been working with the question of why the immune systems of Type 1 Diabetics attack the body’s own beta cells, and why it doesn’t harm any other cells, organs, or tissues. They also wonder why Type 2 Diabetics’ bodies develop a resistance to insulin. The versatile stem cell may act as a solution to these issues. Scientists are using embryonic stem cells, cells that haven’t yet been designated for a specific role in the body, as well as induced pluripotent stem cells, which can play multiple roles in the body, to both create beta cells and serve as replacements for beta cells that aren’t properly functioning. The use of stem cells to function as beta cells could potentially serve as a cure for diabetes, but there is always the chance that a diabetic’s body will attack the new cells, or not respond to them, either. This means that using stem cells to help diabetics is an effort that will take years, as scientists will need to answer the questions of how to produce cells that make insulin, and how to make sure that those cells aren’t also attacked. Besides using embryonic stem cells and iPS cells, scientists are also trying to get beta cells to replicate themselves, and to fix whatever is wrong with the beta cells that are malfunctioning.

Whether it is a way to continually monitor blood sugar levels, a device that knows when to administer insulin to keep levels from becoming dangerously high, or experimentation on the cellular level that could possibly lead to a cure, innovations and new research concerning diabetes are paving the way for better treatments and better management of the disease, which make the lives of all diabetics change for the better.