In February of 2018 the Center for Disease Control released a report claiming that about 100,000,000 Americans have type 2 diabetes or its precursor. Awareness of the effect of this disease was a big part of my youth, as I watched two of my mother’s brothers slowly be consumed by its effects. So I pay attention to developments in the study of its prevention and cure; I might need it someday.
For at least 50 years it has been clear that type 2 diabetes is a disease that caused by diet; what exactly it is about what you eat is not terribly clear, but eating too much is generally viewed as bad. Perhaps too much fat is bad. Perhaps too many carbohydrates are bad. Perhaps low protein is bad. The science is very unclear.
Most doctors seem convinced that weight loss produces remission in some fraction of people with type 2 Diabetes. More recent studies have tried to pin down this fraction, settling on about half of people will put the disease into remission by losing weight. However the benefits may only be available for a short period after symptoms appear. The situation is complicated even more by what may be multiple conditions lumped together as type 2 diabetes.
An interesting study showed that bypassing the upper small intestine (duodenum) seems to cure the disease. Here is evidence that they may be getting at the mechanism of the disease. These doctors think that the causal mechanism is somewhere in the path that they bypassed; most probably the duodenum.
Doctors are circling around the idea that the duodenum plays a large role in controlling blood glucose, giving a direct causal mechanism to the bypass results. However, surgery is expensive, invasive, and traumatic.
Now Fractyl Laboratories Inc. has come up with a novel method that, in early trials, seems to work as well as surgery and better than a diet change. They call this method Revita DMR.
Revita DMR consists of inserting a small balloon through the mouth into the duodenum and flushing hot water through the balloon. The hot water removes the mucus membrane from the area. As the membrane regenerates so does the proper signaling for glucose processing; thus curing the disease. Although this is early, it sure seems promising. You can read more about this at the Fractyl Laboratories links I’ve provided.
How wonderful to see knowledge come together. It’s even more exciting to see it come together in an unexpected way.