Lets 'Conquor' Diabetes...

So I am reading the book Cheating Destiny (you can see the cover and buy a copy at any bookstore, or from the link above or on the left) and it talks about this concept.. of Conquoring diabetes rather than always trying to cure it. It was a startling moment for me.. profound.. but I needed to read further to really understand why he was saying what he was saying, and it totally makes sense. After all these years of promising our children a cure, it is seeming lofty. Trials and unfortunate lack of success in reversing the attacked pancreas has gotten many generations down about the prospect. Not to say there have not been highs, or that we should give up hope. but two things:
1. What if we could prevent diabetes from occuring all together? Stop the epedemic and conquor what is attacking the pancreas to help prevent the onset of type 1 diabetes all together? ( Great side note and tip on prevention I got from someone elses blog: Omega 3 Might Help Prevent Type 1 Diabetes
This was reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association, so there's probably some validity to it.Researcher Jill Norris studied 1770 children who were at high risk for developing type 1 diabetes (because of genetic testing or because they had a close relatives with diabetes).From 1994-2006 she took surveys about their dietary intake and tested their blood for islet cell antibodies every year.The researchers discovered that the at-risk children who ate a lot of foods rich in omega-3 were 55 percent less likely to have pancreatic islet autoimmunity."This is the first study to show this," Norris said. "This is all omega-3 fatty acids, not just the kind that are found in fish. It is certainly not time to make any recommendations until we can see this in other populations," but added that it is a very promising result.I guess it's time to bring on the fish, flaxseed oil, walnuts and soybeans! Let's see if I can get my non-diabetic daughter to get more Omega-3 in her diet.

The next point is: 2. Talk about always replacing islets, but really and truly if the antibodies attacked it.. it is likely to attack again unless we find out why those buggers head for the pancreas!! So I am no researcher, but the cause is just as important as the cure.

I know it sounds harsh, because where does that leave our loved ones with type 1 today? well, I think knowing why the pancreas is attacked would really solve the whole conundrum since the pancreas has been proven by scientists (yay a women scientist in this case) to regenerate.. if we can stop the attack, perhaps our little ones pancreas can regenerate and reproduce islets! ahh a prospect almost as exciting as grandchildren ;) (okay bad analogy, but cute ;)

Thoughts?

Also, I hear talk from time to time of cure presentations to the ADA etc and then don't hear much after that.. how can we find out status of the quest for the cure.. or conquoring diabetes?!?!? Comment if you know please. Thanks.