The number of Americans diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes is increasing, especially among children under five, but U researchers participating in a nationwide pilot study hope new research will lead to further studies and the eventual treatment of the disease.
The U is one of nine institutions in the U.S. participating in the study, which seeks to build on previous research that suggests the omega-3 fatty acid DHA, which is found in certain foods, can account for a decreased risk for developing Type 1 diabetes in children.
“We’re trying to figure out why Type 1 diabetes is increasing in children under five,” said Eric Garcia, pediatric research coordinator for the Utah Diabetes Center. “There is tons of research going on nationwide, but still there is no clear cut answer to how it develops.”
The study, known as the Nutritional Intervention to Prevent Type 1 Diabetes Pilot Trial, will test babies born with a specific gene that could cause the disease. Each of the nine nationwide testing centers is responsible to test at least ten babies, totaling at least 90 test subjects.
“The main purpose (of the study) is to see if it’s feasible to do a larger study,” Garcia said. “We can’t make statistical inferences on only 90 babies, so it’s called a pilot study.”
A group of federally funded researchers oversee the study and will decide if a larger scale study is necessary after data from the pilot study is collected.
Type 1 diabetes more often develops in infants and young children when antibodies in the immune system attack insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, mistaking them for “foreign invaders,” Garcia said.
Unlike Type 2 diabetes, Type 1 isn’t curable or preventable through exercise, a healthy diet or weight loss. In order to prevent complications like loss of limbs or blindness, people with Type 1 diabetes must take daily insulin injections.
Tiburon Erickson, a Taylorsville resident, enrolled her now 11-month-old daughter Amelia in the study at birth. Doctors tested Amelia and found that she has the gene that could lead to Type 1 diabetes, although she has not been diagnosed nor symptoms of disease.
“I enrolled her when she was born, and we will continue to participate as needed, especially if it’s going to help find a cure,” Erickson said. “Very little effort is involved, but the information they are getting is huge.”
Although Erickson feeds her daughter special formula and squeezes medicine from one capsule into her daughter’s food once a day, she is not sure whether the pills contain the DHA or not.
The study is a doubleblind, placebo-controlled study, which means that neither the participants nor staff know who was given the pills with the DHA or the placebo capsules.
“The capsules could be real, or they could be placebo,” Erickson said.
Although her daughter hasn’t been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, Erickson said that she is hopeful that her family’s participation in the study can help researchers find better treatments to help other children.
“When you are a child with a chronic disease, there is not much you can do,” Erickson said. “At least we feel like we are doing something.”
U researchers are still looking for pregnant mothers due before April or newborn babies up to five months old to participate in the study. For more information on the pilot study, contact Eric Garcia at the Utah Diabetes Center at 801-581-3908.
Aaron SchwendimanTiburon Erickson enrolled her daughter Amelia in a Nutritional Intervention to Prevent Type 1 Diabetes.