What the bionic pancreas means for type 1 diabetics

Source: Best Health magazine, November/December 2014

There’s good news on the diabetes front: Researchers at Boston University and Massachusetts General Hospital have developed an artificial pancreas for people with type 1 diabetes (there are some 300,000 in Canada). How does it work? A glucose sensor, inserted under skin in the abdomen, transmits blood-sugar data to an externally worn glucose-monitoring device. Every five minutes, an iPhone app calculates the amount of hormones needed to regulate blood sugar. Instructions are sent to two pumps, one filled with insulin, the other with glucagon; they deliver the hormones subcutan­eously. It’s hoped the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will approve it by the end of 2017.