Introduction: Diabetes in the 21st Century
Topic Justification
One must admit that a range of programs for diabetes prevention and management, as well as raising awareness regarding the subject matter and the significance of community support for the people suffering from it have been developed (Joseph & Donner, 2015). However, new treatment options must be sought; otherwise, the disease will remain lethal and will affect countless numbers of people throughout the world (Protheroe, Rowlands, Bartlam, & Levin-Zamir, 2017).
Therefore, the choice of the topic can be considered justified. It is imperative to evaluate not only the available tools for diabetes treatment but also the opportunities for curing it successfully. Even though no cure has officially been found so far, a range of studies have been carried out, and some of them point to the fact that there may be hope for the victims of diabetes.
Research Question: A Cure Is a Possibility
When carrying out the study, one will have to embrace all available strategies that can be deemed as a possibility for curing diabetes. It should be borne in mind, though, that some of the options for treatment are only in development and need further testing. Therefore, the research question can be pout in the following way: Do the contemporary innovative treatment approaches and the use of the medicine that is currently in development allow the possibility of curing diabetes?
Rationale: Diabetes as One of the Primary Health Concerns
The reason for the research to bear such significance is rather basic. As stressed above, diabetes has a huge impact on the global mortality rates. Being an incurable disease, it leads to a significant drop in the quality of patients’ life, contributes to the development of a range of comorbid issues, and leads to death unless properly managed. Furthermore, the fact that little to no success has been made so far in developing the treatment against the disease indicates that there is a strong need to explore the available options and consider the latest innovations suggested by researchers worldwide.
By arranging the available options according to their effect and success in managing diabetes, one will be able to evaluate the opportunities carefully and efficiently. As a result, the chances for the further design of the possible cure can be created. The synthesis of the existing information about the available options for diabetes treatment is crucial to a better understanding of the problem and the identification of the most promising routes that the further studies should take.
Literature Review: What Recent Studies Show
Despite the attempts of researchers all over the world, diabetes remains an incurable disease. The death toll of diabetes is truly horrifying; according to the recent statistics, in 2014, there has been a nearly four-fold increase in the number of people suffering from diabetes compared to the 1980 data (422,000,000 and 108,000,000 people correspondingly) (World Health Organization, 2017). Diabetes represents a consistent threat to the well-being of the global population and, therefore, needs to be addressed.
According to the official statement of WHO, there is currently no medicine that will provide complete recovery from diabetes; instead, only the tools that can provide life support and increase the life expectancy of the patient significantly can be provided (World Health Organization, 2017). However, researches have been going on to maintain the search for the cure ongoing and make sure that the relevant information should be analyzed accordingly. As a result, several options for the future development of diabetes cure have been identified.
The use of herbal therapy, while sounding rather unrealistic, is slowly becoming a possible solution. In fact, the reasoning behind the assumptions made by the scholars that promote the said approach is quite sufficient for making a statement of such great magnitude. Particularly, the proponents of the theory behind the use of herbal therapy argue that the rise in the sugar levels in the patient’s blood, which can be viewed as the primary cause of diabetes, can be controlled with the help of hypoglycemic constituents. As the name suggests, the latter allow reducing the sugar levels in the patient’s blood significantly, therefore, creating the foundation for not only successful management of the condition but also possible introduction of the tools that can make the effect of the medicine permanent (Burdi, Qureshi, & Ghanghro, 2014). When considering the limitations of the specified approach, though, one must mention that there is currently no strategy for making the effects of the said herbal treatment framework permanent; instead, in most cases, the patients experience only temporary relief (Burdi et al., 2014). Thus, there is a need to reconsider the identified approach and explore other options as far as the use of herbal medicine for diabetes treatment is concerned.
Other studies also show that there is a possibility for the herbs-based strategy to have a positive effect on the treatment of diabetes. For instance, Pal et al. (2016) make it obvious that a range of plants can be used as the raw material for producing the protein metabolism medication that is bound to become the foundation for developing a cure against diabetes. Particularly, the authors overview the existing herbs pointing to the fact that the said plants have been used to produce innovative medications against diabetes. For instance, Pal et al. (2016) mention that 4-hydroxyleucine has been recently discovered and identified as the amino acid that can be extracted from fenugreek (Oal et al., 2016).
Therefore, one must give credit to herbal medicine as the possible option for treating diabetes in the nearest future. While the concept of using herbs as the foundation for developing a medication of this big an impact, the recent studies indicate that there is, in fact, a chance to create the foundation for curing diabetes with the help of hypoglycemic plants. It should be noted, though, that keeping their effect consistent and uninterrupted is currently viewed as the primary focus of the future studies.
Stem cell studies are currently considered another promising area that could possible produce a cure for diabetes. Stem cell research has opened a gateway for researching the issue of diabetes management and possible cure. The field of stem cell research offers a plethora of opportunities for considering the problem from several angles, including not only the traditional one but also the analysis of the patient’s genetic makeup, the study of the environmental factors to which the patient has been exposed, etc. (Preeti & Brayman, 2013).
As a result, the basis for a detailed and thorough study can be created. Furthermore, the outcomes of the analysis may produce the information that will ultimately lead to the design of the unique stem-cell-based diabetes cure. Particularly, the approach suggests that the patient’s immune system should be altered so that resistance toward the disease could be built. The process of immunomodulation, in turn, is based on the introduction of a stem-cell-based approach. To be more exact, the regeneration of β-cells is viewed as the possible tool for curing diabetes (Aziz, Deeb, Esmail, Talkan, Makboul, & Ali, 2015).
The reason for scientists to expect success when applying the identified approach to a practical case of diabetes is that stem cell can not only renew but also replenish and change. Therefore, by planting them into the patient’s body, one may expect that the stem cells will help β-cells rebuild seeing that stem cells have proven to have a certain β-cell-regenerative potential (Preeti & Brayman, 2013). Therefore, it can be assumed that the use of the stem-cell-based approach may also contribute to the development of the cure that will ultimately lead to defeating diabetes and providing the patients with an opportunity to recover.
Similarly, a combination of pancreatic progenitor cells and antidiabetic drugs has also been suggested recently as the possible source of creating the cure for diabetes (Bruin et al., 2015). The research results, however, show that the hyperglycemia and obesity that could be viewed as the effects of the patients’ diet and not the genetic disposition could not be addressed properly in the course of the study.
Therefore, the treatment opportunity that the research provides can be viewed as suitable only for the patients that have not developed diabetes as a result of their unhealthy diet. That being said, the outcomes of the study still provide a lot of food for thoughts and can be viewed as shocking even for the present-day medicine, with its advanced technology and groundbreaking discoveries. The idea of using stem cells as the tool for curing diabetes has been in development for years, yet it is only recently that the actual proof of the chance for creating the cure has been provided.
Conclusion: Diabetes Will Be Cured
Diabetes is one of the diseases that can be defined as the plague of the 21st century. Its death toll is immense. It affects the quality of lives of people all over the world, causing significant discomfort and suffering. Therefore, the problem must be addressed, and the cure for diabetes must be found.
Recent studies show that two opportunities for curing diabetes have been opened recently. Particularly, the use of herbal therapy and stem cells should be viewed as the primary options. While the former might not sound as credible and compelling as the latter, it does stand on its own as a possible source of cure development, Since herbal treatment has already proven to have a tangible effect on the patients’ well-being, it can be assumed that, by making its effects permanent, one will be able to create the ultimate cure.
Stem cell research, in turn, also has a plethora of results to share with patients and healthcare practitioners alike. To be more specific, stem cells can be used to replicate the β-cells that contribute to the enhancement of the immune system and allow fighting the development of diabetes successfully. As a result, a continuous improvement can be expected. Although each of the frameworks for curing diabetes remains a theory, they are likely to be implemented soon.
References
Aziz, M., Deeb, A., Esmail, K.,Talkan,H., Makboul, M., & Ali, H. (2015), A possible role in immune response modulation after autologous bone marrow stem cell transplantation in type1 DM. Life Science Journal, 12(12), 35-42.
Bruin, J. E., Saber, N., Braun, N., Fox, J. K., Mojibian, M., Asadi, A.,… Kieffer, T. J. (2015). Treating diet-induced diabetes and obesity with human embryonic stem cell-derived pancreatic progenitor cells and antidiabetic drugs. Stem Cell Reports, 4(4), 605-620.
Burdi, D., Qureshi, S., & Ghanghro, A. B. (2014). An overview of available hypoglycemic triterpenoids and saponins to cure diabetes mellitus. Advancements in Life Sciences, 1(3), 119-128.
Joseph, J. J., & Donner, T. W. (2015). Long-term insulin glargine therapy in type 2 diabetes mellitus: a focus on cardiovascular outcomes. Vascular Health and Risk Management, 11(3), 107-116.
Pal, R. S., Wal, P., Pal, Y., Sachan, S., Kumar, D., & Tiwari, S. (2016). A review article on: the usage of herbal medicines in the treatment of diabetes. European Journal of Pharmaceutical and Medical Research, 3(6), 201-204.
Protheroe, J., Rowlands, G., Bartlam, B., & Levin-Zamir, D. (2017). Health literacy, diabetes prevention, and self-management. Journal of Diabetes Research, 17(1), 1-3.
Preeti, C., & Brayman, K. L. (2013). Stem cell therapy to cure type 1 diabetes: From hype to hope. Stem Cells translational Medicine, 2(5), 328-336.
World Health Organization. (2017). Diabetes. Web.