Oramed is developing a soft gel insulin capsule for the treatment of diabetes. The company has recently announced it the successful completion of its clinical trial demonstrating the safety and efficacy of the oral insulin gel capsule.

The pills were shown to reduce blood sugar, with no significant adverse effects. The insulin used in the gel caps is a generic brand of human insulin. The duration of the insulin is similar to Regular. But the most beautiful thing about these gel caps is that they reintroduce the liver into glucose metabolism, thereby reducing the likelihood of dangerous lows associated with injected insulin and oral medications. This could blow away the necessity of blood sugar testing because you are regulating glucose metabolism in the liver, like a person without diabetes.

Up until now, the idea of insulin pills or tablets was inconceivable due to the fact that insulin, when swallowed, breaks down in the digestive system. Oramed's patented technology overcame the problem of digestion as well as permeability to the intestine. The company's goal is for the completion of formal Phase 1 studies in the US by mid-2008. Sign me up!

Would you like to reduce your daily insulin requirements by a third or stop all diabetes medicines? Lofty goals, yes - but given the Eat To Live program - it's quite possible.

Regardless of my attempts to downgrade insulin dose in the last 15 years - my blood sugars would not take the hint. Had I known Dr. Fuhrman had figured this one out long ago - instead of badgering feats of diabetic noncompliance I would have picked up his book, Eat To Live. Dr. Fuhrman explains the best diet for humans to live longer in good health is also the best diet for one with diabetes. A diet comprised mostly in nature's perfect foods-green vegetables, beans, eggplant, tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, garlic, raw nuts and seeds and limited fresh fruit, allows for people to eat as much as they want and still lose weight, drop their cholesterol, and their blood pressure relatively quickly.

The Eat To Live dietary style is a vegetable-based diet designed to maximize nutrient per calorie density. It is the most effective treatment for those with diabetes, more effective than drugs. For a type 2 diabetic, this approach has resulted in complete reversal of the diabetic condition in the vast majority of patients and for a type 1 diabetic it solves the problems with excessive highs and lows and prevents the typical dangerous complications that too frequently befall those with diabetes. Joel Fuhrman, M.D is a board certified family physician specializing in nutritional medicine for overweight and diabetic patents.

The next time you're tempted to curse the inconvenience of your diabetes control regimen...well, go ahead. Hey, you're entitled! And who am I to preach? But do spare a thought for all those people in the world who go without entirely, either because they can't afford the medical technology they need or because the meds are in short supply.

Zimbabwe, for example, is currently in the midst of a critical shortage of diabetes medicine. According to a report posted on the website AllAfrica, the insulin medication Actraphane is not available in nearly all the pharmacies of the city of Harare. Even major hospitals do not have the drug in stock and hospital officials are quoted as saying they have been searching unsuccessfully for the drug.

When diabetes drugs are in supply in a country like Zimbabwe, people then have to face the fact that prices are often extremely high. Locals blame overseas drug companies for the high prices and they also blame their own government for not ensuring such essentials are manufactured locally, in order to ensure a constant supply. Whatever the case, it's a mess.