When we think about potential cures for diabetes, we tend to focus on food, exercise, and complex medications that underwent a lot of scientific investigations.
We never think about adding snake blood to the list.
Amit Choudhary, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard University’s medical school, decided to conduct an unprecedented study after learning more about the digestive function in snakes.
Choudhary got the idea from Stephen Secor, a professor of biological sciences at UA. Secor had previously published research on pancreatic beta cells in snakes back in 2015. He found that two snakes can double the size of their pancreas, which is the organ responsible for producing insulin.
Inspired by Secor, Choudhary brought that knowledge into the existing research on diabetes in humans. With a lot of creativity and a little bit of luck, he found that the results were impressively positive.
Snakes May Help Treat Diabetes
Choudhary used a little bit of snake’s blood on beta cells of the human pancreas. Not much was expected, though the team of researchers was curious if the snake blood could stimulate growth in the cells.
What they found shocked everybody. Not only did the beta cells grow, but they were also able to handle a high amount of glucose, as well. Normally, when diabetic beta cells are overwhelmed with glucose, they weaken and sometimes die. In the case of this experiment, they did the exact opposite.
This incredible study doesn’t end there, though. While the findings were impressive, they hardly point to a cure at the moment. Instead, the results have inspired researchers to examine pancreatic functioning in snakes more closely.
They hope that by understanding what makes the snakes so successful in growing their pancreases, they will better understand how to treat a diabetic pancreas.
In the meantime, just wait for further research to be published before drinking snake blood.
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