Researchers have been looking for ways to treat and control diabetes for years. Individuals who suffer from diabetes have also been looking for ways to avoid shots and other uncomfortable control measures.
In addition, insulin taken orally does not always break down in the person’s system, and if it does, it often takes a great deal of time. Unfortunately, when a person with diabetes takes insulin they don’t have an indefinite amount of time for it to begin working, nor can they afford for it not to be absorbed at all.
Enter the latest remedy for diabetes: insulin chewing gum. Yes, you heard right. This might just be the most fun that anyone has taking their medicine.
Robert Doyle, a chemist at Syracuse University in New York State, has performed studies and believes that an insulin chewing gum can break down orally-taken insulin by the digestive system.
Studies in the past have shown that oral insulin pills are broken down and that any enzymes that remain are not easily absorbed into the bloodstream from the gut. Doyle points out that the body has specific mechanisms for protecting and absorbing valuable molecules that would usually be damaged by conditions in the gut.
Doyle believes that the insulin can move all the way into the bloodstream, where it is released to do its work. Tests on rats conducted by his team have shown some promising results, according to New Scientist magazine. Even though the study on rats involved a treatment in liquid form, Doyle and his colleagues are sure that chewing gum would be a better delivery method and would work exceptionally well in humans.
The researchers say that chewing would ensure a plentiful supply of saliva, providing the protein needed for the insulin to make its way into the bloodstream.
If this innovative insulin delivery system works, it would help individuals with diabetes absorb more of the insulin they need and enjoy taking their medicine.
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