Artificial Pancreas Trials To Begin In The U.S.

In the U.S. alone, 1.25 million Americans suffer from type 1 diabetes, a potentially debilitating and life-changing condition. Every year, more and more people are diagnosed, and the only common treatment is regular insulin injections. A research team hoping to revolutionize diabetes treatment has developed an artificial pancreas that automatically detects changing blood sugar levels and administers insulin automatically, as announced by Harvard University.

The pancreas is responsible for producing a range of hormones within our body, including insulin, which helps to control the levels of sugar (glucose) in our blood. Those who do not manage to control their blood sugar level – by either not producing enough insulin (type 1) or by producing ineffective insulin (type 2) – tend to develop hyperglycemia.

Frequently injecting insulin is the normal method of treatment, but there are increasingly more advanced methods being trialled and tested in medical laboratories and institutions across the world. Just this week, a team of researchers in California have developed insulin-producing beta cells by manipulating the development of human skin cells; these can be transplanted straight into mice, where they are shown to be effective at preventing the onset of diabetes.

Now, a new research collaborative between Harvard University and the University of Virginia School of Medicine is about to begin a long-term clinical trial that will test their artificially created pancreas on patients with type 1 diabetes. Over the course of six months, 240 people suffering from the condition in the U.S. will be given the device, and medical staff will monitor how their blood sugar levels respond to it.

Unlike a regular organ transplant, this artificial pancreas is essentially wearable technology that will be externally based. This device, created using nearly $13 million (£9 million) of funding from the National Institutes of Health, is an automated insulin delivery system designed to act as the body’s glucose-regulating function.

An insulin pump and blood sugar level monitor is first placed under the skin, which is wirelessly connected to a smartphone. Advanced computational software carefully monitors the blood sugar level, and when it gets too high, insulin contained within the device is injected into the patient, painlessly. The device also measures the patient’s sleep patterns, stress levels, metabolism, nutrient levels, and their general physical activity, allowing it to over time make increasingly accurate predictions as to when an injection is required.

“The idea is that this can lead to an improved quality of life for individuals with this disease – not a solution to diabetes, but a means to really extend the quality of their healthful living,” said Francis J. Doyle III, co-principal investigator and engineering lead on the project.

A regular diabetes sufferer has to regularly monitor their own blood sugar levels; if they are ever distracted and miss a dose, they put themselves at incredible risk of developing life-threatening hyperglycemia, among other conditions. This new device does all this work for them. Instead of aiming to keep glucose levels at a precise value, the algorithm on the smartphone software calculates an appropriate blood sugar range that the device then maintains.

Over the course of this trial, the algorithm will discover patterns within the behavior of a range of humans, which will improve the device’s ability to treat inherently unpredictable people in the long term.

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Uncle Sam Just Told Us To Drink Water, Not Soda. You Might've Missed It

 Tucked inside the U.S. government's latest update to its official eating advice is this recommendation: "Drink water instead of sugary drinks" — aka soda.

The bluntness of this statement is remarkable, in part, because the Dietary Guidelines released Thursday are, in other ways, anything but direct. For instance, as we've reported, instead of explicitly telling Americans to cut their intake of red and processed meats, as an advisory panel of nutrition experts had recommended, the final guidelines hint at meat reduction in subtle terms. That change in messaging may have been linked to pressure from the meat industry.

By contrast, the government's language on choosing water over sugary drinks is as clear as a glass of H20. It is not, however, all that easy to find. We spotted it inside this MyPlate, My Wins tip sheet, part of a new campaign the U.S. Department of Agriculture also launched Thursday.

MyPlate, if you recall, is the icon of a dinner plate divided into portions of fruits and vegetables, grains and proteins that replaced the food pyramid in 2011. Unlike the Dietary Guidelines, which are written for nutrition professionals, policymakers and the food industry, MyPlate is for the general public. It's an image that ends up in nutrition education materials in doctor's offices, textbooks, school cafeterias and lots of other places.

Last year, as we reported, a coalition of nutrition scientists and public health advocates called on the government to add water to the ubiquitous MyPlate icon. Numerous studies have linked sugary drinks like soda to obesity, Type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Adding some sort of water symbol to the MyPlate icon would really bring home the message that water, not soda, should be the beverage of choice, advocates argued.

That didn't happen, and, in fact, the USDA says it has no plans to alter the MyPlate icon, which the agency says will remain the visual centerpiece of its healthy eating messaging.

Instead, we got the infographic above — what the USDA says is the first of several new tip sheets to be released.

As you can see, the message to drink water, not sugary drinks, shows up there — in the very bottom, right-hand corner. While the language is clear, the visuals around it are hardly compelling.

"Ideally, [the water symbol] would be part of the main MyPlate image. That's the thing that's going to get the most publicity," says Michael Jacobson, executive director for the Center for Science in The Public Interest, who was among those who signed the letter calling for stronger language on water in the Dietary Guidelines.

It's also worth noting that, while 100 percent fruit juices also pack a sugary wallop, the MyPlate, MyWins tip sheet lists them as an acceptable form of getting your daily fruit intake. (The actual guidelines add more nuance, advising that people get at least half their recommended fruit intake from whole fruits.) For the record, William Dermody of the American Beverage Association tells us that "moderation of beverages is something we're in line with as well."

Overall, the new tip sheet's messaging is confusing. "It's ugly and it's hard to read," says New York University nutrition professor Marion Nestle, a noted critic of the influence industry exerts on government food policy.

In general, she wishes the government's visual messaging on what Americans should and shouldn't eat was much more explicit. Nestle points to guidelines from Brazil and Sweden (see below), which — as Julia Belluz has pointed out over at Vox — are breathtakingly easy to understand. Their virtue? Instead of talking about nutrients, they focus on what people really put in their mouths. "They're about real food," Nestle says.

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Magical gadget scans your food to reveal its nutritional value

Curious just how many carbs and calories are sitting on your dinner plate? A new gadget promises to reveal the nutritional value of your meal by scanning its chemical makeup.

French startup DietSensor launched at the 2016 International Consumer Electronics Show a pocket-sized, Bluetooth-connected molecular sensor called SCiO. It uses near-infrared spectroscopy (the analysis of how molecules interact with light) to determine the chemical makeup of food and drink. SCiO can analyze substances based on how their molecules interact with light.

While this may sound like a dream tool for dieters, the SCiO is primarily aimed at helping those with conditions such as diabetes or cardiovascular diseases keep a close eye on their diet.

In a demo for Mashable, the SCiO scanner was held over a piece of cheese. After one click of a button, the corresponding app revealed the fat content, carbs and related tips — i.e. you shouldn't exceed more than 54 grams of this type of product in a given time period. That data was added to health profile which showed a progress chart of your daily food intake. We should note, however, that the demo included food provided by the company. We'll do a full review when the product officially launches.

Founders Remy and Astrid Bonnasse came up with the concept in 2014 when their 9-year-old daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, which required her to monitor the carbohydrate intake of each meal and measure insulin.

Ultimately, the couple developed a nutrition coaching app and worked with Israeli company Consumer Physics for the gadget that uses science to automate the process. The concept uses spectroscopy, which highlights how food molecules in food vibrate in a unique manner when it interacts with light. While this method has been used in science labs before, the DietSensor brings it to a consumer tool for the first time, the company said.

Although the scanner only reads homogeneous food (such as cheese, cracker, bread) and wouldn't be able to pick up all of the ingredients in a sandwich, the app allows you to input more complex meals manually.

It works on homemade food too, so if you want that piece of cake your friend is having for a birthday, you'll be able to scan its nutrition first.

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