Abstract
DIABETES IS NOT EASY TO TREAT, BUT NEW EXPERImental therapies are raising hopes that better options for managing this disease will become available in the near future. The new therapies center on a little-known player in the elaborate process of human food digestion: the 30-amino-acid peptide hormone known as glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1). A hallmark of diabetes is an abnormally high level of glucose in the blood, a condition known as hyperglycemia. Since the 1920s, patients have depended on injections of insulin to help keep glucose in check. Insulin does this by preparing cells to admit the sugar. A healthy body secretes only as much insulin as is needed to keep blood sugar levels steady. But in a patient with diabetes, the body either produces little or no insulin (type 1 diabetes and often late-stage type 2 diabetes) or doesn't respond adequately to the insulin it has (type 2 diabetes). Insulin injections, as well as ...
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