Type 1 diabetes is a disease in which the body does not make insulin. Insulin is a hormone that allows sugar (glucose) to get into the body’s cells to give them energy. When you eat, your digestive system breaks food down into glucose and other nutrients, which are then absorbed by the blood through the walls of the intestines.
The pancreas, an organ located near your stomach, releases insulin and other substances into the blood, in response to high glucose levels. Together, these substances act like “keys” to let glucose from food enter cells. As glucose enters most cells of our bodies, it gives them energy for normal function.
But with type 1 diabetes, this system doesn’t work because there is no insulin or not enough insulin to unlock the cells. Glucose builds up in the blood, overflows into urine, and passes out of the body.
People with type 1 diabetes must take insulin every day to stay alive. Without insulin, the body would not be able to use glucose for energy and would die. Insulin injections can be given using a syringe, an insulin pen, or an insulin pump.
A Major Breakthrough
People with type 1 diabetes all across the globe are hoping for a potential medical breakthrough right now. A groundbreaking cell transplant has given one guy a fresh shot at life after decades of suffering from diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is a chronic chronic condition, unlike type 2 diabetes, which may be treated and occasionally cured. Just to keep alive, patients need daily insulin, injections, or infusions. It was formerly thought to be incurable, but hope and new options have arrived in the shape of a stem cell technique that has the potential to improve people’s lives.
The groundbreaking research here focuses on the fundamental cause of type 1 diabetes in humans. The body assaults the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, but with this novel therapy, the patient gets an infusion of fresh stem-cell-derived cells that help restore the body’s natural capacity to make and control insulin, basically giving the cells back to the body.
In The Video
Brian Shelton, 64, has had type 1 diabetes for more than 40 years, with serious hypoglycemia episodes for 15 of those years. Brian’s life has been altered after being the first participant in a pioneering new scientific experiment.
