A simple 1-hour procedure could help people with type 2 diabetes control their blood sugar without taking insulin, a new study finds. The endoscopic procedure uses electrical pulses to induce changes in a portion of the small intestine called the duodenum. Researchers believe chronic exposure to a high-sugar, high-calorie diet may damage this area, making the body resistant to its own insulin.
In the first human trial, 14 insulin-dependent type 2 diabetics underwent the new procedure. They were discharged the same day, put on a temporary liquid diet, and then prescribed semaglutide, a diabetes medication. Remarkably, 86% of the participants maintained glycemic control without insulin for a year. The lead author calls the results spectacular and says "One of the biggest advantages of this treatment is that a single outpatient endoscopic procedure provides glycemic control, a potential improvement over drug treatment, which depends on patients taking their medication day in and day out."
The authors are now working on a double-blind randomized trial to test these findings.
