Biology

Can diabetes be cured?

Diabetes mellitus or more commonly known as diabetes is a metabolic disease caused mainly by hyperglycaemia as a result to the body’s interaction with insulin. Diabetes was one the first diseases to be mentioned by physicians and doctors, 1500 BCE Egyptians described it as the ‘too great emptying of the urine’ and at a similar time Indian physicians classified it as maduhumeha ‘honey urine’ noting that the urine attracted ants(now known to be because of glycosuria). Like this a notable record of patients with symptoms of diabetes have been noted throughout the ages, however it was only until the early 20th century when effective treatment became an option when founding fathers of diabetic treatment Fredrick Banting and Charles Herbert Best isolated and separated insulin in the 1920s. But even today diabetes represents one the world’s most dangerous and costly health problems.

Child with Diabetes injecting herself with insulin [2]

Internationally 285 million have diabetes with type 2 being the majority. Its incidence (risk of developing the disease) is increasing rapidly as you can see this is huge problem and the cost of diabetes is estimated to be 14 billion pounds; which is excluding complications, in the UK alone that is 10% of the NHS budget. [1]Although it may seem like such a cured disease, according the international diabetes federation ‘Diabetes caused 4.6 million deaths in 2011’, the major groups in risk are pregnant women, children under 15 and people over 65[3]. And it seems to be getting worse a report published in 2011, published on world diabetes day, states that ‘One adult in ten will have diabetes by 2030’ this is staggering statistic, the report goes on to say ‘About 552 million people may have diabetes by 2030, compared with about 366 million now’, and all those extra patients need to be treated. A report by Harvard University and the World economic forum says ‘Productivity losses and medical treatment...