Diabetes breakthrough as century-old medicine helps manage type 1…

New research suggests that a low-cost medication, over a century outdated, can improve life for those with type 1 diabetes. A scientific trial in Australia discovered that metformin, a drug usually used to deal with type 2 diabetes, reduces the need for insulin in type 1 diabetes sufferers.

This discovery opens up new potentialities for better management of the disease. Type 1 diabetes is a common condition, where the immune system mistakenly assaults the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas.

As a consequence, those with type 1 diabetes must take insulin for the remainder of their lives to control blood sugar ranges. In some people with type 1 diabetes, long-term use of insulin can lead to insulin resistance, where the physique’s cells no longer reply successfully to the drug, stories Daily Express UK. 

This means they require growing quantities of insulin to keep blood sugar ranges in examine.

For years, docs have prescribed metformin to deal with insulin resistance in type 1 diabetes, largely based on anecdotal evidence. However, the scientific trial has now shown that metformin does not fight insulin resistance in type 1 diabetes, but instead lessens the quantity of insulin needed to preserve ideally suited blood sugar ranges.

These surprising findings, printed in the journal Nature Communications, might improve how docs manage type 1 diabetes and lighten the load for people with the condition who rely solely on insulin.

Dr. Jennifer Snaith, co-leader of the examine from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, said: “Insulin resistance is a growing problem in type 1 diabetes. Not only does it make regulating blood sugar levels difficult, but it is an underappreciated risk factor for heart disease, which is one of the biggest causes of health complications and deaths in those with type 1 diabetes.”

A staff at Garvan, led by Dr. Snaith and Professor Jerry Greenfield, carried out the world’s first randomised managed trial in adults to see if metformin – usually used to battle insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes – might have the same impact in type 1 diabetes.

Professor Greenfield explained: “We randomised 40 adults with long-term type 1 diabetes to take either metformin or a placebo for six months. We examined whether their insulin resistance changed over that time through a sophisticated and comprehensive research technique, called a clamp study, that allowed us to map insulin resistance in different parts of the body.”

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The researchers had been stunned to discover that metformin didn’t improve insulin resistance or change blood sugar ranges. This suggests that, not like in type 2 diabetes, metformin does not fight insulin resistance in type 1 diabetes.

However, metformin did scale back the quantity of insulin people needed to keep their blood sugar ranges secure.

Dr. Snaith said: “Although we didn’t find changes to insulin resistance from the use of metformin, we did show that people taking it used around 12% less insulin than those on placebo. This is an important result. Insulin is a relatively old treatment which, while lifesaving, comes with significant mental and physical burden.

“This means that reducing the quantity of insulin used is a precedence for many people dwelling with type 1 diabetes. We have shown that a very low-cost, accessible, medication could serve this function and this may be very thrilling.”

The team is now investigating how metformin might function to decrease the amount of insulin needed by those with type 1 diabetes.

Professor Greenfield added: “Metformin has been accessible in numerous types for around 100 years, but its mechanism of motion stays unknown.

We would have anticipated that the noticed reductions in insulin dose induced by metformin in our examine can be due to the physique turning into more delicate to insulin, that is, turning into less insulin resistant.

“But we have shown that is not the case. Our priority is now working out how metformin is achieving this effect.”

Dr. Snaith said: “There is increasing evidence suggesting that metformin may act on the gut. This is why we are now investigating how metformin changes gut flora, also known as the microbiome, in people with type 1 diabetes. This has not been studied before in type 1 diabetes.”

“We’re hoping this will provide clues on metformin’s mechanism of action, so that it can be more widely used in the management of type 1 diabetes.”