Scientists believe that a cure for diabetes may be on the horizon.

Dr. Christian Stohler, Dean of the University of Maryland, has reviewed that “cure.” And he calls it a “paradigm-changing” discovery.

"The treatment and diagnosis of [diabetes] is poised to take a dramatic leap forward because of this research," says Dr. Stohler.

As we reported on Tuesday, Dr. Hans Michael Dosch is leading research on the project for the University of Toronto. He’s sure he has discovered the cure for diabetes. And his published findings are firing up the Canadian medical community.

That’s because he has “cured” diabetic mice… in just 24 hours.

Currently, insulin injections are the accepted method for treating diabetes. But that doesn’t cure diabetes… It just manages some of the symptoms.

In people suffering from Type 1 diabetes, the pancreas doesn’t produce enough insulin to get glucose to where it needs to go.

And Type 2 diabetics can’t properly use the insulin they produce. Which leads to insulin resistance.

But Dr. Dosch believes he’s found a treatment which fixes this.

Path to Discovery

Dosch’s discovery began with observations he noted earlier in his career. His early research showed that diabetics had an “enormous” number of pain neurons around their islets. These islets are located in the pancreatic area. They’re directly responsible for our production of insulin.

He was sure there was a link between the pain neurons and diabetes. So he decided to test his theory out.

He took diabetic mice and injected a capsaicin compound into their pancreas. (Capsaicin is commonly found in chili peppers.) The injection deadened the pain neurons. Suddenly, all the mice were producing normal levels of insulin. In just 24 hours!

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” says Dr. Dosch. “In my career, this is unique.”

Killing the pain neurons allowed the islets to fire correctly.

“We had the biggest shock of our lives," says Dr. Dosch. "It was out of left field. Nothing in the literature was saying anything about this."

But the result made sense to Dr. Dosch. The next step was to look at neuropeptide production.

According to him, our nerves secrete neuropeptides, which are essential to the proper functioning of our islets. If our islets aren’t producing insulin correctly, we’re at risk for diabetes.

So he got together with researchers at the University of Calgary and the Jackson Laboratory in Maine. They started testing diabetic mice for neuropeptides. They discovered that mice with diabetes secrete too few neuropeptides. This deficiency creates a constant stress cycle on the islets. Which unbalances insulin levels and can lead to insulin resistance.

He injected a neuropeptide into the pancreatic cells of the mice. With just one injection, the islet inflammation was gone. The diabetes was cured. The insulin resistance was corrected. The result proved his theory.

Now, the next step is to see if what works on mice will also work on people. Dr. Dosch and his team are convinced it will.

“Translating our data to human disease is our first priority,” he says. “We’ve spent the last two years verifying our data.”

Dr. Dosch and his team have worked with scientists in Europe and America to review case studies and DNA from over 8,000 patients. He’s certain that there is “a genetic peculiarity similar to that in diabetes-prone mice.”

His team is about to begin tests on people. To confirm that the same connection exists between our nerves and diabetes. If they’re right, they might have a compound which can cure diabetes… in just one shot.

To your health,

Ian Robinson,
Managing Editor, NHD "Health Watch"