Research at the Columbia University Medical Center has found that the skeleton is key to regulating blood sugar levels. More specifically, during usual skeletal re-growth old bone is destroyed, and this process is required to keep blood glucose at healthy levels. The process stimulates the release of insulin and enhances glucose utilization by cells throughout the body.
The findings hint that diabetes may arise from changes in the bones, and, more importantly, that the bone-insulin relationship may prove fertile grounds for new diabetes treatments. New drugs could be developed to target the process.
These new drugs might be based on osteocalcin. Osteocalcin is a hormone released in the bone destruction process that signals the pancreas to produce more insulin and enhances the ability of cells to uptake glucose. Both of these abilities are restricted in type 2 diabetes. Osteocalcin also figures strongly in osteoporosis.
Diabetes centers around the country are conducting cutting-edge diabetes research such as this on a consistent basis. It might be worth your while to contact your local diabetes center to see what you can do to help defeat this chronic disease.