In December 2006, The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada (SickKids) researchers found that mice injected with capsaicin -- the chemical that makes chili peppers hot -- were rapidly cured of Type 1 diabetes. Now with widespread credence following their discovery, SickKids has partnered with Approach Therapeutics to accelerate the human clinical trials for this cure.

Researchers discovered that Type 1 diabetes is caused by malfunctioning pain nerves surrounding islets. These nerves mistakenly tell the brain that the islets are inflamed and the body creates insulin autoantibodies to destroy them. The researchers injected capsaicin, also known as "substance P", to kill the pancreatic pain nerves. Researchers observed that the injected mice's islet cells began producing insulin normally almost immediately. The nerve cells secrete neuropeptides that tell the islets to release insulin. The nerves weren't secreting enough neuropeptides, causing inflammation resulting in insulin autoantibodies that caused Type 1 diabetes. The researchers also found that the treatments helped curb the insulin resistance that causes Type 2 diabetes.

Thanks to SickKids and Approach Therapeutics for the promising news. Looks like the cure for diabetes could come from a land where universal healthcare lives.

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!

New research reveals that faulty nerves in the pancreas may be one of the causes of type I diabetes, a condition where the immune system mistakenly attacks islets. Substance P was found to be responsible for healthy function and protection of islets.

Toronto researchers injected substance P into diabetic mice to reverse new onset diabetes. Sernova Corp is leading research into reversing insulin dependent diabetes by implanting a small device containing insulin producing islets to reverse diabetes, and Sertoli cells to naturally protect the islets from the body's immune system.

There is no point in scaring you like a virgin on prom night by telling you where the Sertoli cells derive. Where they're taking us along the path to cure type 1 diabetes is of greatest importance.