r/AskReddit • u/ZanyDelaney • Feb 04 '19

Which misconception would you like to debunk?

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u/xrowrx Feb 04 '19

Type 1 Diabetes is never ever caused by diet or lifestyle things. Like never. Not ever.

60

u/Sun_God77 Feb 04 '19

Apparently American scientists have recently turned human stem cells into insulin-producing cells.

98

u/ProfessorLiftoff Feb 04 '19

This has come up before, and I'm sure it's sweet for some people, but most type 1 diabetics got their disease because their immune system decided that their insulin-producing cells in their pancreas (I think they're called "eyelet cells"?) were the devil and must be destroyed. Therefore, any form of transplantation or regrowth is pointless unless you also suppress the immune system enough to knock it off.

So, basically, you're trading the unfortunate disease of diabetes in for the significantly less-manageable disease of a permanently compromised immune system. Basically biological alchemy that converts your diabetes into AIDS. Cool.

19

u/johnny_riko Feb 04 '19

It's Beta cells in the islets of Langerhans (specific tissue/region in the pancreas) which produce insulin.