Medical chemists in the US and Europe are trying to treat type 2 diabetes by targeting receptors for glucagon, a hormone that raises blood sugar levels when they get too low. They are developing molecules that they say can selectively bind to glucagon receptors. The molecules could provide a new way to keep blood glucose (sugar) levels down in people with type 2 diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes usually occurs in adults and sometimes can be controlled with a combination of diet and exercise; people with the condition lose their sensitivity to insulin, which results in excess blood sugar.
In one study, researchers injected rats with a compound that blocked glucagon receptors. Another group of animals received a placebo injection. Fifteen minutes later, all of the animals were given glucose intravenously. The animals given a placebo wound up with two to four times the level of glucose in the blood as those given a low and high dose of the receptor blocker.
A different version of the compound was studied by researchers in Denmark. Their molecule, which was engineered to be administered orally, managed to hold glucose levels constant in rats that were injected with glucagon.
Researchers hope that this new type of treatment will provide a good alternative to currently available drugs for type 2 diabetes, which risk over-correction of blood sugar and causing too-low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) as a side effect.
Meeting of the American Chemical Society Washington, DC August, 2000
Interesting study that is based on the supposition that "oral tolerance," or giving a small dose of an item, will provide benefit in a disease process. This was proposed for multiple sclerosis (MS) with bovine myelin and for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with bovine cartilage about seven years ago. To the best of my knowledge, nothing ever came of this research and I personally have seen no benefit in patients who tried the approach.
The overall concept of insulin for type 2 diabetes is absurd and makes absolutely no sense if one understands the way the body is designed to work. However, since nearly all conventional physicians don't comprehend basic human physiology with respect to diet and health, it is not surprising that they could come up with the prescription for disaster of giving someone who is already overloaded with insulin more of what caused the problem.
The main reason most type 2 diabetics have diabetes is that they have too much insulin. This is usually a result of eating too many grains. The solution in nearly all of these individuals is to consume the proper low-grain diet and exercise one hour per day.
Clearly, there are some individuals who have a different issue. I have several of these people as patients and they have nearly perfect diets and exercise appropriately, yet still have a problem with diabetes. My suspicion is that this minority acquired an infection that impaired their pancreas or caused a post-receptor insulin defect that does not allow their insulin to work properly.
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