Drugs that are used to increase the hormone glucagon in the gut to treat diabetes have come under fire recently, after researchers looked at the pancreas of deceased patients taking the drugs.
Their findings were startling and unsettling, considering that people with type 2 diabetes don’t need additional insults to their pancreas-they’re under enough fire already.
Researchers at Larry L. Hillblom Islet Research Center, UCLA, found that a type of diabetes drug used in incretin therapy has a devastating effect on the cells in the pancreas.
Looking at the pancreas of deceased diabetes patients, they found that those who were using the incretin therapy had an increase in the mass of their pancreatic cells by almost 40%.
Inflammation in the pancreas affecting the beta cells that produce insulin already leads to diabetes, but the therapy designed to treat it seems to be causing additional harm to the very organ that is under the inflammatory attack.
The study is groundbreaking because it puts to rest the argument over whether there is a derogatory effect of the drug therapy. Previously, the only studies available were done on animals and the results were conflicting. The actual evidence on human tissues ends the argument.
Even more disturbing, the drugs implicated in the study are currently under investigation by the FDA for their roles in causing pancreatic cancer and other diseases of the pancreas. Brand names include Januvia and Byetta.
This is just one of many pieces of evidence that the only safe way to deal with chronic diseases is a natural approach.
