Currently there are no medications to prevent Diabetes. However, there are studies underway to possibly halting the disease. There is a current study being supported by the National Institute of Health, The American Diabetes Association, and Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International, called The Diabetes Prevention Trial Type 1 (DTP1). DTP1 is currently testing to see whether or not oral insulin can prevent diabetes in people who are 25-50% prone to the disease during a span of 5 years. Oral medication causes the immune system to respond differently rather than injections. By “feeding” the insulin to the body the digestive system will learn to recognize the insulin and not kill the insulin that is being made by the pancreas. Studies done on an animal model, NOD mouse show that the oral insulin given before the disease development helped to reduce or delay the development of the disease. . This same study group just completed a trial testing to see if low doses of insulin injections would prevent type I diabetes in people with low insulin production and with 50% chance of developing the disease. Even though the trial was not successful at developing prevention for Type I diabetes, very important data was gained for future analysis as to what events take place in the immune system that lead to the development of the disease.
Another study that is being done with animals and humans is in Finland, where the highest rate of Type I diabetes in world is found. This trial is known as The Trial to Reduce Diabetes in the genetically At-Risk (TRIGR). The TRIGR is a controversial trial which suggests that children who are prone to developing Type I diabetes and were completely breast fed and were not exposed to proteins found in cow’s milk may have a lower risk of developing Type I diabetes. In studies that were done both in Toronto and Finland, done on mice, those mice that were fed cow milk protein were more prone to develop the disease then those fed with pre-digested protein formula. Based on this information and gathering more information from the finish studies those children who were taken off of breast milk before the first 4 months and then given cow’s milk with non-digested proteins were more likely to develop the disease verses those children that were fed with breast milk past the 3 month period and were put on a formula that had pre-digested cow’s protein.
There are several other studies going on in the world to help find a cure for this disease. Unfortunately none have been found but very important data is being gained from these studies. It is thought that in a few years they might be able to test embryonic stem cells on humans to see if these cells can replace the non-insulin producing cells.