Small Doses of Insulin May Prevent Diabetes in Kids

Researchers found giving young children small doses of insulin may work to prevent type-1 diabetes. In an early trial, a few children high at risk for diabetes showed some indications that the approach might work, researchers reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Ezio Bonifacio of Dresden Technical University tested 25 children: "The mechanism seems to be that the immune system is just not seeing insulin appropriately or enough insulin early in life enough to see that is is part of its own body," he said. The team gave oral insult to 15 children and placebo doses to the rest. Bonifaco found signs that might suggest a healthy immune response to the insulin.

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