A glucosamine-like dietary supplement has been found to suppress the damaging autoimmune response seen in type 1 diabetes, according to University of California, Irvine health sciences researchers.

In studies on mice, researchers found that N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc), which is similar but more effective than the widely available glucosamine, inhibited the growth and function of hyperactive T-cells that cause diabetes. GlcNAc increased sugar modifications to the T-cell proteins, preventing the hyperactive immune response. This therapy normalized T-cell functions and prevented development of high blood glucose levels in type 1 diabetes.

GlcNAc decreases pain and inflammation, which likens the results of the Irvine study to a study that was conducted in Toronto last December. Researchers found they were able to cure diabetic mice overnight by injecting them with something called Substance P. Substance P is involved in the transmission of pain impulses from peripheral receptors to the central nervous system. Diabetes is like a rat without the ability to feel pain. The naked mole rat lacks Substance P and cannot feel pain when painful stimuli are administered to the skin. Snapple fact, folks!

Now that the US market is suspiciously saturated with human insulin - and many of us diagnosed within the last 10 years did not have a shot at trying porcine insulin - I'd like to set the record straight. When the pharmaceutical companies cherry pick the studies they wish to use for their gain, and not so much for your enhanced quality of life - they must've lost this study.

Please read the entire study (if you have access to it in a local library) but what grabbed my undivided attention was the sentence that says: it was observed that the action of porcine insulin was associated with... a striking increase of prolactinaemia, in relation to semisynthetic human insulin.

Okay -- so as I look deeper into the function of prolactin -- aside from some definite dopamine enhancing activities (if you know what I mean) :::wink wink::: -- it is responsible for the formation of myelin coatings on axons in the central nervous system. This is a certifiable problem that results in diabetic neuropathy and the related side effects (numbness, nerve dysfunction, i.e, ED).

Ex-queeze me? Does this say that human synthetic insulin may be a cock blocking drug?

Sorry for the blunt delivery -- but this is the truth. Why doesn't human synthetic insulin have this listed as a side effect? My guess is: if you had a choice of human synthetic insulin versus highly purified porcine insulin -- and you knew the side effects of human synthetic might take a toll on the health of your sex life -- you might be praying to the porcine gods.

Shame on the companies who knew about this study and kept it undercover so you couldn't...

Elixir Pharmaceuticals is a company focused on age-related diseases such as diabetes and obesity. Elixir released new data on research that ultimately could lead to a treatment for type 2 diabetes.

The research explains the role of ghrelin, a hormone secreted by the stomach. Ghrelin controls appetite by increasing levels before meals and decreasing levels after meals. A lack of sleep produces ghrelin, which stimulates appetite and creates less leptin which, amongst its many other effects, suppresses appetite. Research scientists have developed an anti-obesity vaccine, which is directed against the hormone ghrelin. The vaccine uses the immune system antibodies to prevent ghrelin from reaching the central nervous system, thus producing a desired reduction in weight gain.

The research conducted by Elixir, as well as the obesity vaccination, shows compelling evidence that ghrelin plays a pivotal role in metabolic regulation. Scientists have shown pharmacologic inhibition of the ghrelin receptor results in a reduction in fasting glucose levels, reduction in insulin resistance, and weight loss. This could lead to victorious battle for science in the war on obesity.