"The Diabetic & Diabetes Center"

There are more and more ways to deal with diabtes these days, and more than that there are more discoveries every day. People with type 1 diabetes who got stem cell transplants were able to go as long as four years without needing insulin treatments, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.

They said the process, which involves injecting people with stem cells made from their bone marrow cells, appears to have a lasting effect. The study involved patients with Type 1 diabetes, formerly called juvenile diabetes, which occurs when the immune system goes haywire and starts attacking itself, destroying insulin-producing cells in the pancreas needed to control blood sugar.

These patients typically need daily insulin therapy to control their diabetes.

Dr. Richard Burt of Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago and colleagues first reported on the short-term success of the procedure, known as autologous non-myeloablative hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation, in 2007 but have since looked at how long it persisted.

Writing in this week’s Journal of the American Medical Association they said 20 of 23 patients “became insulin free — 12 continuously and eight transiently — for periods as long as four years.” The transient group of eight had to restart insulin at reduced levels.

The patients ranged in age from 13 to 31.

To find out if the change was lasting the research team said they measured levels of C-peptides, which show how well the body is producing insulin. They found those levels increased “up to 24 months after transplantation and were maintained until at least 36 months,” their report said.

Even in the group which had to restart insulin there was still a significant increase in C-peptide levels that lasted at least two years, the researchers said.

They said the procedure was able to induce “prolonged and significant increases of C-peptide levels” in the small group of patients who were taking little or no insulin.

“At the present time (it) remains the only treatment capable of reversing type 1 diabetes mellitus in humans,” the team wrote.

“Randomized controlled trials and further biological studies are necessary to confirm the role of this treatment in changing the natural history of (the disease),” they added.

Reproduced through Reuters

Many of us – even those who have diabetes or live with someone who has diabetes, are under the impression that as long as you leave sugar out of your diet, your blood glucose levels will be fine and your diabetes will stay under control.

This is partially true. If you have diabetes sugar isn’t a good thing to pour into your body on a regular basis – especially. On the other hand, if you are eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly and doing other things to keep your body as healthy as possible, a bit of sugar here and there will not push you into an extreme situation.

For instance, if you eat a lot of whole foods, lean meats, good fruits and vegetables and keep your diet balanced; if you take your insulin or other medicine and you do other things to stay healthy a little sugar here and there won’t hurt. You could have a small serving of ice cream or slice of pie or cake (pie is better due to less carbs).

One of the big leaps forward when it comes to food for individuals with diabetes is the variety and quality of sugar free sodas, juices and desserts. There used to be vanilla or chocolate pints of ice cream that tasted like frozen chalk with saccharin in it. Then there were hard candies made wit saccharin and wrapped in individual wrappers.

These days, Hershey’s, Dove, Russell Stover, Sees and other candy makers are creating tasty sugar free candy for individuals with diabetes. Add to that, sugar-free pie, sugar free and low-carb ice cream, cereal and a tremendous variety of other products that help people with diabetes have fun, sweet choices for sweets, treats and desserts that will not make the situation worse.

So if you happen to have diabetes and have some cravings for a little sweet dessert or snack here or there remember that it’s not the sugar every once in a while, it’s the entire diet and lifestyle. And a nice choice of snacks and desserts not just for people who have diabetes but for people who would like to stay healthy in general.