Wonder Pill???

[Guest guest]

I found this blurb in the Healthline News Update that I receive

weekly, which deals primarily with autoimmune conditions. If this is

true, I would not view it as a license to take a pill & gorge on

everything you want, but it could be helpful in managing extremely

difficult cases.

 

 

ISLAMABAD, March 08(Online): The pill makes the gut less 'leaky'

Experts advise caution about claims of a pill that could enable people

with

diabetes and coeliac disease to eat foods that are normally off-

limits.

 

 

People with coeliac disease need to avoid wheat and diabetics sugary

foods to manage their medical conditions.

 

 

Researchers at the University of Baltimore say a pill that makes the

gut more watertight could allow these patients to eat whatever they

want,

says a BBC report.

 

 

But the early studies were on rats and experts questioned the

implications.

 

 

Controversy .

 

 

They argue the best way to manage food intolerance is by avoiding

problem foods and eating a healthy, balanced diet and taking regular

exercise.

 

 

If everything goes to plan, we could have a product on the market by

the end of 2006, says Lead researcher Dr Alessio Fasano.

 

 

The pill, called AT-1001, works by blocking the production of a

protein

found in the body which is called zonulin.

 

 

Zonulin regulates how porous or permeable the intestine is.

 

 

People with diseases like diabetes and coeliac disease tend to have

too

much zonulin, which the Baltimore scientists said means more

foodstuff,

toxins and other bacterial and viral particles within the gut can pass

into the blood stream.

 

 

Lead investigator Dr Alessio Fazano said this, in turn, causes the

body

to attack itself, which can lead to problems like diabetes and coeliac

disease.

 

 

He said: " With autoimmune diseases, the body mistakes its own tissue

as

foreign, resulting in an attack and destruction by the body's own

immune system.

 

 

" These diseases are all characterised by an extremely permeable

intestinal wall.

 

 

" We have been able to identify a way to prevent zonulin from causing

leakage from the intestines as it does in people with these autoimmune

diseases. "

 

 

Rat research .

 

 

His team has shown that by blocking the action of zonulin with AT-1001

they can prevent diabetes in diabetes-prone rats.

 

 

" The focus should be on a combination of a healthy diet and regular

physical activity, " says Dr Angela Wilson of Diabetes UK.

 

 

These rats were able to continue on a normal diet, they reported in

the

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

 

 

He now plans to test the drug in people with coeliac disease and

diabetes.

 

 

" I believe that it is going to be the case that restoring the

intestinal barrier will mean that those prone to developing diabetes

or coeliac

disease can eat a normal diet, " he told Chemistry & amp; Industry

magazine.

 

 

His team is working with Alba Therapeutics to develop a marketable

drug.

 

 

" If everything goes to plan, we could have a product on the market by

the end of 2006, " he said.

 

 

Dr Angela Wilson, director of research at Diabetes UK, said: " People

with diabetes should eat the same healthy, balanced diet recommended

for

everyone - high in fruit and vegetables and low in saturated fat and

sugar.

 

 

" The development of this pill is a long way off. The focus should be

on

a combination of a healthy diet and regular physical activity.

 

 

" This will help to control diabetes in those who have the condition

and

will reduce the risk in others who may go on to develop Type 2

diabetes. "

 

 

Professor Peter Howdle of St James University Hospital, Leeds, and

member of Coeliac UK's medical advisory council said: " The research

findings are encouraging and Coeliac UK will be following developments

closely. "

 

End.

 

 

 

Thank you.

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