Good News For Diabetics

[Berzerker]

There is now more hope for those with adult onset diabetes, and I don't know why not all diabetics. A new drug up for approval as early as 2004 holds alot of promise according to recent tests; and here's the surprise, the drug comes from the saliva of Gila Monsters, a lizard inhabiting the deserts of the American Southwest and Northern Mexico, primarily Arizona and similar climes in that region. The lizard is known for it's toxic "bite" - well, bite may be a bit of a mis-nomer, Gila Monsters don't really bite, they chew, and to tranfer their poison to another animal, they'd have to be able to hold onto it with their "teeth" long enough for the poison to get into the skin. Obviously they're not really what we'd call predators, but scavengers and vegetarians.

Furthermore, there is a logic behind the discovery - Gila Monsters eat maybe 4 times a year and the saliva contains a chemical that supresses sugar spikes from large and infrequent meals - hence the connection to diabates... So far, the side effects are limited to mild to moderate nausea...

[Dinner]

Interesting. Scientists keep finding useful substances n all sorts of unlikely places.

BTW Gila monsters are cool. I've seen them in the wild twice (both in the Grand Canyon) and they are small but fat, stuby little things. I believe they are the world's only piosonious lizard.

[Urban Ranger]

Komodo Dragons - "bad breath, bad arse, bad temper." Big nasty buggers, and their bites are poisonous as well. Not because they are themselves poisonous, but their preference for rotting meat means lots of becteria grow in their mouths.

[CerberusIV]

Adult onset diabetes is usually controlled by diet, rather than needing insulin injections, so a drug that supresses uptake of sugar when you eat does sound promising.

[Jack the Bodiless]

Furthermore, there is a logic behind the discovery - Gila Monsters eat maybe 4 times a year and the saliva contains a chemical that supresses sugar spikes from large and infrequent meals - hence the connection to diabates... So far, the side effects are limited to mild to moderate nausea...

...Hmmm.

I woudn't want to be suffering from "mild to moderate nausea" all the time.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Oerdin
I believe they are the world's only piosonious lizard.

Nope, just the U.S.'s only opisonous lizard. The only other poisonous lizard in North America is the Mexican beaded lizard, which is a cousin of the gila monster.

[Japher]

blah

You wouldn't take the medicine if you have the side effect... Besides, those type of things occur in less than like 1% of all people... They just have to say that.

Also, if you have ever met a diabetic they are plagued with extreme nausea which can come on at the drop of the hat... Hypoglycemia sets in...

sometimes the good outweighs the bad.

[C0ckney]

ah balls, thought this might be about my type of diabetis

[Solly]

The Atkins diet also sorts out diabetes.

[Gatekeeper]

Originally posted by C0ckney
ah balls, thought this might be about my type of diabetis

They've got an article in the September edition of Popular Science that deals with a breakthrough in Type I diabetes. Basically, a researcher — Tejal Desai — has come up with a method that protects the beta cells in the pancreas from being killed by the body's own immune system. It's some sort of "net" that allows the cells to produce insulin and let it out, while keeping the immune system out.

Her implant is now being developed for human use (the trials cured Type I diabetes in rats, insofar as I can tell) by a private company.

Gatekeeper

[Gatekeeper]

Originally posted by CerberusIV
Adult onset diabetes is usually controlled by diet, rather than needing insulin injections, so a drug that supresses uptake of sugar when you eat does sound promising.

All very true. Controlling Type II diabetes with diet and exercise is far preferable (at least for me) to having to spend "x" amount of money on oral drugs. But it's nice to have a wide range of these agents, in case the time ever comes when diet and exercise are no longer enough.

I think Type II is well on the way to being permanently controlled/cured, though. Of course, they said that back in 1980 as well, according to an acquaintance who has had Type I since the 1970s.

Gatekeeper

[Lefty Scaevola]

Re: Good News For Diabetics

Originally posted by Berzerker
There is now more hope for those with adult onset diabetes, and I don't know why not all diabetics.

They are entirely different in their biological causation. The US medical proffession is even moving away from calling type II diabetes, towards calling in "metabolic syndrome".