Stem Cells for the Treatment
of Diabetes
What stem cells can do today
opens doorways to even more, tomorrow…
Diabetes refers to a family of diseases where the body is unable to effectively produce or use insulin, the hormone required to convert food into energy. The cause of diabetes is not known, and so far there is no cure.
According to the American Diabetes Association, "there are 23.6 million children and adults in the United States, or 7.8% of the population, who have diabetes. While an estimated 17.9 million have been diagnosed with diabetes, unfortunately, 5.7 million people (or nearly one quarter) are unaware that they have the disease."
There are three main types of Diabetes. Type 1 Diabetes is characterized by the body’s inability to produce insulin and therefore necessitates daily injections of insulin. Because it most often develops in children, it is often referred to as "juvenile diabetes." The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) reports that as many as three million Americans may have type 1 diabetes and an average of 40 children each day (more than 15,000 per year) are diagnosed.
