How does Stem Cell Therapy work for Diabetes?

Diabetes affects approximately 5% of the American population, permanently changing the lives of around 16 million people. There is currently no cure for this condition, and the number of individuals who develop it is only increasing with time. For many of these patients, living with diabetes means a daily routine of insulin injections and constant monitoring of their blood sugar.

What are the current Diabetic Treatments?

Current treatments of diabetes vary based on which condition a patient has. Type 2 diabetes can be moderately controlled by a good diet and regular exercise by the patient, but type 1 cannot. Type 1 diabetic patients must monitor their blood sugar throughout the day and inject themselves with insulin when needed.

Even with regular monitoring, there can be a large amount of variation in the blood sugar levels leading to potential long-term damage seen in the eyes, heart, blood vessels, nerves, and kidneys.

Type 1 diabetes has one available treatment to it, though it comes with a large amount of risk: a beta cell transplantation, or the transplantation of a healthy pancreas to generate new beta cells. Beta cells produce insulin in the body, allowing a patient to regulate their blood sugar and potentially providing a way for the patient to combat the effects of diabetes directly.

How do Stem Cells help?

The largest complication with the transplantation of beta cells is the lack of current donors. This can be circumvented through the use of stem cell therapy for diabetes, which can be potentially be grown into insulin producing beta cells for use in replacement therapy. Due to the large availability of these cells in both the bone marrow and adipose tissue of the body, it may be possible to develop a near limitless supply of healthy insulin-producing cells for transplant into patients.

Stem cells may also be able to help reduce the secondary tissue damage caused by extended cases of diabetes. Damage to the surrounding blood vessels from improper blood sugar levels can potentially be counteracted as stem cells have shown promise in blood vessel repair.

How are Stem Cells used for Type 1 Diabetes?

There are potential treatments currently under development that combine adult stem cells with other diabetic treatments. Combining a known immunosuppressant with adult stem cells has shown a large amount of progress in the research phase, as the stem cells help to re-create lost blood vessels. These new blood vessels in turn produce new beta cells, which will produce insulin. It is important to note that while this method was effective in research, it is still a relatively new treatment method.

How are Stem Cells used for Type 2 Diabetes?

Other research is currently being done to test the effects of stem cells on patients with type 2 diabetes. A recent study focused on the effects of stem cells harvested from bone marrow on the insulin requirements of the patients. A large majority of patients who received stem cell therapy in this study were able to significantly reduce the amount of insulin they required on a day to day basis.

Physician First Choice has Board Certified doctors offering stem cell treatments for diabetes Type 1 and 2. A considerable amount of conditions are treated with IV stem cell therapy including diabetes, COPD, MS, Autism, Hepatitis, Alzheimer’s, Parkinsons and much more.

Call the leading California stem cell clinic today at (888) 988-0515 today!