New Atlas

Medical Audio available

The natural sugar that reduces the risk of diabetes in mice

Michael Irving August 26, 2018

Researchers have discovered a new way to reduce the risk of diabetes – sugar. Trehalose is a natural sugar that has now been found to deprive the liver of glucose and activate a gene that improves insulin sensitivity and triggers the burning of more fat.

A comparison of the livers of different groups of mice – left is a healthy mouse ...

Medical Audio available

Novel anti-obesity drug unexpectedly discovered while researching insulin resistance

Rich Haridy August 21, 2018

New research by a team of Australian scientists has unexpectedly revealed a novel anti-obesity drug. Initially working to create a drug that prevents insulin resistance the researchers discovered in early animal tests that it instead prevented the animals from depositing and storing fat.

A new anti-obesity compound has been accidentally discovered by scientists who were researching insulin resistance

Medical

Needle-free: 10-year study confirms rare diabetes can be treated with tablets

Nick Lavars June 5, 2018

For a long time, insulin injections have simply been a fact of life for people – including babies – suffering from neonatal diabetes. But a new 10-year study has now shown tablets to be just as effective, with recipients hailing the new approach as a "miracle treatment."

Needles could now be a thing of the past for sufferers of neonatal diabetes

Medical

Oral insulin proving successful in human clinical trials

Rich Haridy May 17, 2018

Orally administered insulin, a game-changing treatment, is one step closer to reality with a final Phase 2b human clinical trial underway to prove the drug's efficacy before it reaches the final stages of trials and registrations that could bring it to market within a few short years.

Insulin in a pill is one step closer to reality as clinical trials progress

Medical

Spider web inspired implantable "string" could control diabetes

Rich Haridy January 2, 2018

A team of researchers has developed a revolutionary new method for treating type 1 diabetes. Inspired by a spider’s web the team created an easily implantable nanoporous thread that can hold hundreds of thousands of insulin-producing islet cells and be easily removed when they need to come out.

Medical

Yale study discovers how very low calorie diets could reverse type 2 diabetes

Rich Haridy November 9, 2017

For some time there have been claims that not only can type 2 diabetes be controlled by diet, but it can also be reversed, effectively curing the disease. Researchers have now uncovered key mechanisms that could explain how a very low calorie diet can reverse type 2 diabetes

The study identified three metabolic mechanisms that are stimulated by a very low calorie diet and ...

Medical

Are synthetic insulin-secreting cells the future of diabetes treatment?

Rich Haridy October 31, 2017

A new development from scientists at the University of North Carolina and NC State could do away with the need for injections and glucose monitoring for diabetics through the use of artificial beta cells that mimic the insulin-secreting function of healthy cells.

An image of one of the artificial beta cells that can be inserted into a diabetic ...

Medical

Artificial pancreas learns your behavior and regulates insulin through a smartphone

Rich Haridy October 16, 2017

Last year the FDA approved the first artificial pancreas for general use, designed to automatically monitor and inject insulin in patients with type 1 diabetes. Now a team at Harvard has developed an even more sophisticated system than connects to a patient’s smartphone and learns their habits.

A new artificial pancreas system connects to your smartphone and uses an algorithm to learn when ...

Medical

Clinical trials of stem cell-based "functional cure" for type 1 diabetes underway

Rich Haridy August 8, 2017

A human clinical trial examining the safety and efficacy of a "functional cure" for type 1 diabetes is currently underway. The trials involve a device containing stem cells being implanted into a patient with the disease.

A new treatment currently undergoing human clinical trials could see the end of pin prick tests ...

Medical

Injectable polymer could cut insulin injections to one per month

Rich Haridy June 5, 2017

A team of biomedical engineers at Duke University has developed a heat-sensitive biopolymer that could mean diabetics need as little as one injection a month to control their glucose levels.

A new breakthrough could see diabetes sufferers requiring just one or two injections a month to ...