NeuroTalk Support Groups - New potential diabetes type II treatment:

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrsD (Post 869246)

This new target is on the horizon for treatment of type II
diabetes:

http://news.yahoo.com/mouse-study-hi...160209043.html

This has not been done in humans yet, but it looks promising.

In modern medicine there's a common thread .....appearing to cure diseases while the victims die. You can't really cure a disease without removing the cause. But the first hurdle is simply diagnosis. With a condition as widespread as type 2 diabetes (T2D) modern medicine tries to identify markers which are cheap and easy to test for. In the case of T2D it's blood glucose.

So patients and doctors test for the markers and use the tried, true drugs to treat the disease. Some wise drug companies seem to always come up with new drugs which improve the markers without curing the disease. Markers fall to normal, and modern medicine declares the disease cured.

But in so many diseases these cures are not cures at all. They represent modern medicine curing the markers without curing the disease. Statins and blood pressure are a good example. Total cholesterol was identified as a marker for atherosclerosis. Statins lower overall cholesterol. But it turns out that total cholesterol is not the problem. Glycated cholesterol is the problem. Non-glycated cholesterol is required for health. Statins cure the perception but not the disease.

Elevated blood glucose is absolutely a cause of bad health among type 2 diabetics. But it is not part of the cause. It is an effect of the cause. Elevated blood sugar is caused by insulin resistance. Insulin resistance has a couple of causes, lying in a progression. Elevated blood sugar is a marker of insulin resistance. But atherosclerosis is also a marker of insulin resistance.

A big motivation for big drug companies to cure markers lies in the fact that the process feeds patients expensive prescription drugs for the rest of their lives without actually curing them.

I appreciate the information. Lowering blood sugar will certainly alleviate a lot of suffering. When drug companies find drugs which treat or cure insulin resistance, then I'll really be impressed.