News that researchers led by a team at the University of Dundee are embarking on a new medical trial that could lead to the prevention of type 1 diabetes is to be warmly welcomed.
It is type 2 diabetes that gets much of the attention in Scotland; this is perhaps understandable since the figures show the overwhelming majority of the country’s diabetics – some 87 per cent – have this form of the condition, and it is almost always brought on directly by unhealthy lifestyles.
But this still leaves more than 25,000 Scots suffering from type 1, a life-changing and potentially fatal disease that develops, often in childhood, through no fault of their own. Over the years research has revealed much about how and why the condition occurs – the immune system attacks the cells that produce insulin, a phenomenon scientists suspect is being adversely affected by modern factors such as poor diet, lack of exercise and air pollution – but there remains no cure.
The available treatments, meanwhile, mainly strict dietary controls and multiple daily injections of insulin, can have a huge impact on the lives of patients, particularly the young. Those who fail to manage their diabetes of either type can suffer horrendous complications such as blindness and limb amputations.
With this in mind, it is worrying Scotland has the third highest rate of type 1 diabetes in the world, and the condition is on the rise. As part of the Dundee trial, high-risk children aged between five and 16 will be treated with a cheap and easily administered drug that stops the insulin-creating cells from being attacked, with researchers hoping this will prevent the condition from forming altogether.
There are no givens, of course, but this is a particularly promising trial that could lead to a breakthrough of global significance. Let’s hope it will result in scientists offering life-changing preventative treatments in the not too distant future.
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