A team of scientists suggests that coffee could replace insulin injections for treating diabetes. The researchers state that if this treatment, which worked on the mice they tested, can also work for humans, it could replace injections need to produce insulin in diabetics.
Coffee Is The Diabetic Cure?
The team of researchers was led by Dr. Martin Fussenegger, a biotechnologist, who is known for his "mind-controlled" gene therapy research. The researchers created special kidney cells that potentially could alter the quality of life for diabetics. Insulindid is typically produced in the pancreas, but when the pancreas does not function as it should, it shortchanges people who suffer from diabetes that need the hormone.
Dr. Fussenegger and his team turned the kidney cells in the mice into insulin-makers by giving them caffeine receptors. By doing this, the kidney cells producing insulin would release their wares whenever caffeine was detected in the bloodstream. The researchers noted that by adding a cup of caffeinated tea or coffee, it could have protective effects against type 2 diabetes and could create insulin production, which would result in diabetics no longer needed the injections.
The team then tested the caffeine insulin in 10 mice who were diabetic. When the diabetic mouse would drink coffee, they could control their blood sugar levels as well as the non-diabetic ones could. The bio-system the researchers created also kept the mice from consuming too much insulin.
"To my knowledge, there are no other significant sources of caffeine in food. Even very small trace amounts of caffeine will not trigger the system," Dr. Fussenegger stated. He continued that the test did not show how many cups of coffee would be too much for the mice who had diabetes.
Diabetes In America
In the United States, diabetes is the fifth most common chronic disease and the seventh leading cause of death. According to the American Diabetes Association, in 2015, over 30 million Americans had diabetes and at least 1.25 million children and adults had type 1 diabetes.
However, only 23 million Americans were diagnosed and at least 7 million were not. There are over 1 million new cases of diabetes every year in the United States. For young adults under the age of 20 years old, at least 193,000 are suggested to have diabetes.
Common symptoms of diabetes include frequent urination, feeling thirsty and hungry often, weight loss, and blurry vision. Diabetes can potentially lead to other fatal conditions, including heart disease.
