Oral insulin

NEW YORK, Aug 14 (Praxis Press) Studies in mice suggest that the oral administration of insulin can modulate immune function and prevent the onset of diabetes. Chaillous and colleagues studied the effects of oral insulin administration on beta-cell function in 131 patients newly diagnosed with autoantibody-positive type 1 diabetes. At 12 months, patients randomized to 2.5 or 7.5 mg of oral insulin or placebo had similar subcutaneous insulin requirements, hemoglobin A1c concentrations, and fasting and stimulated C-peptide concentrations. This pattern was consistent for both juvenile and adult patients and for patients with low and high C-peptide concentrations at enrollment. Further, no significant differences existed in the time course or titers of autoantibodies for the three groups. Doses of 2.5 and 7.5 mg of oral insulin do not preserve beta-cell function in patients with type 1 diabetes during the first year of disease.