Hope for diabetics: synthetic insulin treatments

I have a family history of Type 2 diabetes. My father has it, and my mother's brother has it too. My grandfather died in 1996 after multiple organ failure. He was diagnosed as having diabetes about a year or two before that. To hear, then, that people with type 2 diabetes do have some hope would be a bit of good news indeed.

 

Last Sept. 10, a group of physicians from the Philippine Society of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Diabetes Philippines, and the pharmaceutical firm Novo Nordisk presented the results of a worldwide clinical trial on new synthetic insulin treatments for Type 2 diabetes. It might be good to know why insulin treatments would be helpful for those with diabetes.

 

Essentially, diabetes is a disease that strikes at our body's capacity to turn sugar (glucose) into energy. Insulin is a hormone the pancreas release to allow parts of our body to get rid of excess sugar by turning it into an energy reserve, among other things. In a healthy body, the level of insulin is kept strictly in check. Diabetes happens when our bodies fail to control the level of insulin being produced by the pancreas, and patients often need to receive more insulin as a result of this failure.

 

Synthetic insulin treatments used to treat patients with diabetes come in different varieties. There are those that act fast, and in short bursts, and others that work over a longer time. Physicians often have to figure out what treatment works best for individual patients, depending on the severity of their condition and the patient's lifestyle. One potential problem with insulin treatment is that patients gain weight.

 

The consequences of diabetes can be fatal. People can lose their sight, or even worse. Dr. Sjoberg Ang-Kho of the Santo Tomas University Hospital said, “Diabetic patients are two to three times more likely to have a heart attack or a stroke. Of course, who could forget [limb] amputation?” He added that one problem physicians encounter is that patients come to them at a late stage in their illness. 

 

Diabetes is more prevalent in this country in urban areas more than rural ones, and the physicians present attributed this mainly to lifestyle differences. Stress is one risk factor for diabetes, for instance. “There is less stress in rural areas,” Dr Mary Ann Lin-Abrahan of the St Luke's Medical Center said. “Driving through the traffic here adds to stress.” Figures from the National Nutrition and Health Survey in 2008 show that 5% of Filipinos surveyed had high fasting blood sugar levels (in other words, before breakfast, their blood sugar levels were high).

 

The Achieve global study, named for a particular hemoglobin A1C test that determines how much red blood cells are saturated with simple sugar, was published in 2011, and involved around 66,726 patients in 28 countries, including the Philippines. Many of these patients had already experienced complications arising from diabetes. For research purposes, the Philippines was grouped into the ASEAN area.

 

The study was meant to test the effectiveness of synthetic insulin treatments, most notably among those who have not had insulin therapy. Most relied on oral medicines taken to reduce blood sugar levels, and some were already on insulin. The global results found that from an initial average hemoglobin A1C  level of 9.5%, the average fell to 7.4% with the use of these insulin treatments. Results from the regional cohort study showed similar results. At the same time, patients reported improved quality of life as a result of treatment, and there was less weight gain.

 

We also obtained a copy of the 2008 DiabCare study which has been done every five years since 1998. The figures so far make for depressing reading. Even after treatment, fewer than 1 in 6 patients studied were able to get their hemoglobin A1C levels below the standard 7%. Most diabetes patients had complications from the disease, and almost all had cardiovascular problems. The study also found that, even if treatments such as those used in the Achieve study were available, two-thirds of the patients hesitated to start insulin therapy.

 

As for the efficacy of herbal treatments in the market (those with ampalaya extract, for example), one of the physicians present said that the problem was that while ampalaya does have some effect on sugar levels, it would take large doses of those food supplements for them to actually work.

 

So far my relatives have not been on insulin therapy—synthetic or otherwise. However, my father has already had cataracts removed. I know that treatments for diabetes are available and are, as one of the physicians present assured us, competitively priced. These have been found to work, as the latest studies show. 

 

I also know that the best cure for any illness is prevention. Perhaps the clue is in the fact that little things count, both in diet and physical activity. –KG, GMA News