Diabetes Cure: Plastic Film Insertion in Gut Improves Condition
Diabetes is a serious disease that, when left untreated, could result in multiple health complications. However, new findings may pave the way for a cure.
British doctors have discovered that a particular gut operation could cure or control diabetes. The operation involves doctors inserting plastic film into the patient's stomach, which will lessen the release of hormones by the gut into the blood.
The trials were held at King's College Hospital and University College Hospital in London. Other trials also took place at City Hospital in Birmingham.
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Many patients who participated in the trial operations reported that their diabetes had improved or disappeared.
"About 50 per cent of patients are diabetes-free after these procedures," Francesco Rubino, professor of metabolic surgery at King's College Hospital, told The Sunday Times. "The remaining people demonstrate big improvements of blood sugar control and can drastically reduce their dependence on insulin or other medication. In many patients, blood sugar levels go back to normal within days, long before declines in fat levels or weight."
In the United States, 1.4 million people are diagnosed with the disease annually, according to the American Diabetes Association. In 2012, 9.3 percent of the American population had diabetes. This translates to 29.1 million people. Of that number, an estimated 1.25 million Americans have Type 1 diabetes.
In children and teens, it is estimated that 208,000 people under the age of 20 have diagnosed diabetes. Among seniors aged 65 and above, 25.9 percent or 11.2 million are affected. This includes both diagnosed and undiagnosed seniors. In 2010, 79 million Americans aged 20 and older had prediabetes. That number went up to 86 million a mere two years later.
In 2010, diabetes was listed as an underlying or contributing cause of death in over 234,000 death certificates. It was the seventh leading cause of death that year.
Diabetes is known to be linked to other conditions like hypoglycemia, hypertension and kidney failure, among others.
