I agree with most of the points regarding how how China does/would treat a diabetes cure in comparison to China, this post (it’s not an article) is garbage. It’s got no sources, just vaguely references a single case.
It would be a better post if it didn’t mention China at all and instead discussed how diabetes is approached under American capitalism.
Is there a better source?
Not entirely obvious, but this is what the substack referenced: https://interestingengineering.com/health/stem-cell-therapy-diabetes-china
Terrible hype article. This was one person. And, it’s not unique, similar trials are taking place worldwide. But the US based development was all killed with the NIH cuts.
Sure thing, but I think that was the whole point of the article. It’s not staying that America isn’t enough technologically advanced to achieve that, but that nobody wants to do that because it would kill a huge industry
Also, china is not comunist.
No.
wasn’t the original inventor of insulin insistent that it remain cheap and readily available?
Banting and Best sold the patent for $1. But they were Canadian.
The cost of insulin has nothing to do with intellectual property.
They could have run a non-profit organization that leases out access to the patent, with conditions on pricing and availability. IMO, the pair thought that a for-profit health industry would do the right thing, and were betrayed by the rich bastards of society.
As mentioned in the post, yes.
HIV is next, then cancer. China now has the kind of state scientific infrastructure that the US had in the 1950s. For some reason the USA is actively trying to destroy theirs.
I love how you call it Communist China when it’s just as run-by-oligarchs as the US is. In fact they made an oligarch president for life.
It’s not communist, it’s socialist with Chinese characteristics! (The characteristics are oligarchs)
It’s not communist, it’s socialist with Chinese characteristics! (The characteristics are oligarchs)
Not for the 400m Chinese earning $40 USD a month.
It’s work till you die with no health care or social security.
Not to mention the tens of millions of unregistered (citizenless) girls who are enslaved to work the world’s biggest sex markets
Pretty big claims to make without any source or citation haha
Ok, I’d really like to see a source for these claims because as far as I know the minimum salary is more than $200 everywhere in the country and the average is way higher. It might be work till you die, that I won’t deny that, but they also do have social security and health care, to a degree that an US citizen would be jealous of.
my summary of china is that they have come to the genius conclusion that you actually have to feed your livestock if you want milk, which is something many other countries seem to have great difficulty comprehending.
Your claims are bullshit US propaganda
That’s the headline on the article, not OPs headline
If aliens came to trade cheap stuff with USA, oligarchist supremacism would declare war on them no matter how badly we’d lose
This “cure” was from 2024, per the South China Morning Post.
In case anyone was thinking this was new.
Any news on it since then? It wouldn’t be the first time a scientific achievement out of China that embarrasses The West just fizzled out when no one was looking.
Hell, it calls China “Communist”, I started reading it like it was a headline from the 1960s.
They’re getting new beautiful infrastructure and disease cures.
We’re bringing back measles, coal mining, and actively stupefying our kids for profit.
USA! USA!
I get where you’re coming from, but I’m also skeptical about the results. How do they get the body to stop attacking the pancreas permanently?
Until enough data is collected patients may just go right back down the line. It isn’t an instant process.
you mean from the not communist, capitalist china, that one, the one that ditched communism 40 years ago
ok
Yeah. The same one that’s getting new beautiful infrastructure and disease cures.
Have you ever heard of Tofu buildings? A bunch of Chinese construction companies have been using unwashed beach sand in their concrete. This means there’s salt in the concrete.
So you can walk up to some of these buildings and with just a little effort, rip a chunk off with your bare hands.
The companies are still doing it, because it’s cheaper, and they rarely get in trouble. It’s a sign of Chinese capitalism, reckless disregard for harm done in the name of profit. The US went through a phase like that from about 1607 until we all died in nuclear hellfire during the Able Archer exercises in 1983.
The companies are still doing it, because it’s cheaper, and they rarely get in trouble. It’s a sign of Chinese capitalism, reckless disregard for harm done in the name of profit.
80% of the sand used in their construction is now artificial… Because they stopped using unwashed sand.
It took me less than 5 minutes to find this out with a simple search.
‘fun’ read about able archer though.
you’re aware that americans just consider it completely normal to be able to punch a hole in a wall, right?
How the Therapy Works
The process involves regenerative medicine, utilizing the patient’s own body’s capabilities to treat the illness.
Cell Extraction: A small sample of cells (e.g., fat cells or blood cells) is taken from the patient. Reprogramming: These cells are chemically treated in a lab to revert them to a pluripotent state, meaning they can develop into any type of cell.
Differentiation and Transplantation: The stem cells are then guided to become functional, insulin-producing islet cells. These new cells are then transplanted back into the patient’s abdominal area.
Restored Function: Once implanted, the cells engraft and begin producing insulin naturally in response to blood glucose levels, effectively restoring the body’s natural ability to regulate blood sugar.
Sounds expensive :/
That doesn’t make sense for type 2. This is exactly how they’ve been trialing treatment of type 1, they just announced it a few months ago I think it was Stanford and Toronto
Insulin producing cells die off in type 2 after years of being bombarded with sugar in the US diet.
It’s important to make clear that “sugar” in this context includes simple carbohydrates.
Also known as sugars
The meme account does not concern itself with being wrong
I wonder if the US diabetic population is comparable to the Chinese diabetic population. Similar weight and eating habits? If not that could complicate things.
I believe you may conflating type 1, and type 2. Type 1 does not have a causal relationship with food consumption. The article also might be conflating the two as it mentions curing type 2, but by using the methodology everyone has been looking into to treat the autoimmune issues of type 1s.
Rate of diabetes in China “explosive”
China has the world’s largest diabetes population, with over 118 million adults (approx. 11–12% prevalence) living with the disease as of late 2024–2025, driven by rapid urbanization, obesity, and an aging population. The epidemic has shifted dramatically from less than 1% prevalence in 1980 to a major public health challenge, with type 2 diabetes accounting for over 90% of cases
This is a consistent pattern in Chinese domestic politics. What a western nation would pick out as a profit center, the Chinese state addresses as a social cost. So the state plows a small fortune into cost-effective medical solutions, rather than squeezing the existing health care system out for therapeutic remedies that never resolve the root problem.
This is a consistent pattern in Chinese domestic politics
What are other examples?
It should be noted that this treatment sounds likely to be very expensive, and also if someone doesn’t change their lifestyle, the newly implanted functional cells are likely to become dysfunctional again over time, requiring another expensive cycle of treatment
What are other examples?
Environmental policy was a big one. China took a hard pivot in the '00s, cutting emissions, advancing alternative energy, reforesting deserts, rapidly advancing HSR, building enormous wild life refugees.
Their insourcing of processors was another. Going from Taiwan’s biggest customer to it’s biggest competitor in a decade and change.
Then there was the housing boom - remember “Chinese Ghost Towns”? All over the news in the early '10s. Now China has more homeowners than any other county on Earth with more than 90% of households owning at least one property.
i’ve never understood how anyone could think the “ghost towns” wouldn’t obviously be filled shortly. One of the most significant facts about China is that they have a stupendously massive population, and consider Boston a quaint medium-sized town.
That population isn’t growing like it used to. Those buildings are looking likely to sit empty indeed.
This isn’t a cure for type 2, it’s a cure for type 1. Lifestyle has very little effect on type 1. You just don’t have enough insulin, sometimes you don’t have any, and usually it’s a result of an autoimmune disease or genetic issue.
The article says T2.
In the actual study, the subject had Type 2 diabetes, and the authors note that treating Type 1 will be much more difficult due to the immunology involved
Agreed, the article says all of this but it doesn’t make a lot of sense. This is generally the mindset everyone has been using to treat type 1. Type 1 is about production, type 2 is about resistance. This treatment doesn’t address resistance, it just makes more insulin. More insulin is not more better, and has consequences.
I’m sorry, I just assumed that cancer of a site got it wrong, and then went on to assume it was another example where someone had and autoimmune disease, and then had their immune system reset via something like chemo. The pancreas in such cases is still roached, so adding new insulin producing cells makes sense.
Type 2 is caused by insulin resistance. And yeah, more insulin can help, but I’d not call it a cure. A cure is reversing the resistance.
This treatment is for type 1 (still 12 million cases).
This treatment is for T2.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41421-024-00662-3
I stand corrected, it is for both T1 and the 30% of T2 that are insulin dependent. Cool.
No, it’s for Type 2
Almost 2 million children with type 1 world wide. So sure, good spend.
Multiple types are autoimmune. Doesn’t the body continue to attack the cells?
This was one test in one patient. We didn’t hear about the patients where this didn’t work. Very shitty article.
Well shit. At least I wasn’t willing to get my hopes up.
The concept is being trialed worldwide, but it will be too expensive for anyone
Yeah, but that’s a bit beside the point. I’m a bit incredulous that it would work long-term.
But I don’t know anybody who specializes in autoimmune diseases besides my endocrinologist. And I won’t be seeing her for a bit.
People shouldn’t have to hope that Chinese scientists cure diabetes just so American companies can’t keep price gouging them. But here we are.
here we are indeed
The author makes great points like this but fails to prove the Chinese have cured diabetes to begin with.
Ohhh nice… where is Communist China again… ?
Looks horrible!
I know where the State Capitalist Chinese Dictatorship is, but yeah, can’t find the Communist one.
Hell, they aren’t even fully State Capitalist anymore, they have billionaires.
Still, if this is true, and widely available, it could be one of the handful of good things done by a bad government. Hell, even if the methods are released for others to improve on, it would be a boon for the world.
There are close to 2 million children with type 1 diabetes worldwide. And I guess there are like 8 million adults, whatever. Cure the kids, let them not die when someone hands them a candy bar.
That is, if this works. Type 1 is usually an autoimmune disease. Do doctors first need to cure the autoimmune disease and then give this treatment? If so, then this is just another temporary treatment for now. Possibly in the range of days if the immune response is particularly aggressive.
This was a single case involving type 2 diabetes. Type 1 would need to be approached differently because it can’t be cured by fixing the pancreas. If this therapy does work, perhaps it would still be a boon for T1 patients as a treatment rather than a cure.
i think it’s hiding under your bed, best keep your feet under the covers.
Is there a more reliable source than “HR News” ?
Seriously, MASSIVE source citation needed. As the saying goes, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
Shhhhhhhh! Don’t you know facts and evidence are tools of capitalist oppression!
Yep, I tracked it back to that correspondence too. Key word there is “correspondence.” It’s not a complete research article, just a single report.
And it’s in Nature, a journal famous for high profile studies that are poorly peer reviewed and rarely reproduced.
It’s one patient, thus this is an anecdotal report.
For real, this is a zillion miles away from overall “cured diabetes”
Other articles I see for this are from 2024. I don’t think this is recent.
That’s not any more reliable. Maybe a scientific paper or something?
My cousin Doug’s girlfriend?
That’s amazing! I wonder if the patients will have to get more insulin-producing cells transplanted every few years, or if this is a “one and done” type of deal?
In any case, an autologous cell transplant every ≥3 years or so is a vast improvement over the current situation for type 2 diabetes
US patients certainly will, if the cure is ever legal here.
Oh yeah I don’t doubt that you folks will get fucked over by your oligarchy, one way or another
This experiment was done on a type 2 diabetes patient. Type 2 diabetes is characterized by damaged islet cells due to a diet high in glucose / carbohydrates. Changing the diet won’t undo the damage, it will just not cause further damage. This patient had enteric neuronal stem cells (nerve tissue from the gut) extracted, and those extracted cells were induced to differentiate into pancreatic islet cells in vitro (in a lab). Once differentiated, they were transplanted back into the patient, and they were able to successfully implant into his pancreas and repair some of the damage his diet had caused.
If the patient had type 1 diabetes, this would not be an effective therapy, as the issue in type 1 diabetes is that the body’s own immune system attacks the cells. A similar approach has been tested for type 1 diabetes, and it has seen some success when combined with immune suppressant drugs to limit the damage caused by the autoimmune disorder.
Since this patient had type 2, however, theoretically he should not need additional therapy as long as he does not go back to a destructive diet or suffer trauma to his pancreas due to accidents.
Ah right, that makes sense. Thank you for the explanation
as he does not go back to a destructive diet
Yeah that’s gonna be a no from me dawg
Lots of liver transplant recipients get off the wagon.
Same. :'(
IIRC the biologist that runs the YT channel Though Emporium did this some years ago regarding his lactose intolerance and he had to get more after some years because his body didn’t naturally produce them
But I hope this is different
lactose intolerance is a very very different thing from diabetes.
Insulin is a fundamental part of keeping you alive, and if you fuck up the balance you can die which is why diabetes is such a big deal.Lactose intolerance is just the inability to digest a specific kind of sugar, which means bacteria in your digestive system can gorge themselves and give you an absurd amount of gas and other very unpleasant but ultimately not particularly dangerous consequences.
Yeah I’d sorta assume that’d be the case with this treatment too, but I’m also an idiot with absolutely zero medical training
This is a different matter entirely. The person who runs that channel (I love that channel, btw) does not have functional genes to produce lactase (the enzyme that lyses the bonds in lactose). Either he can’t make any lactase, or he can only make insufficient quantities of it.
What he did was introduce lactase producing bacteria into his small intestine. This required him to kill off most of his gut flora and then repopulate it with compatible species, including some lactase producers. So it’s not exactly correct to say that he cured himself of lactose intolerance; he just got something to create lactase for him. He had to repeat the therapy years later because his gut flora changed over time (likely due to shifts in his diet), and the quantity of little lactase producing bacterial buddies living in his intestines declined.
Oohh. It’s been a while since I saw the video and I just remembered that he needed to do it again because it stopped working over time.
This is blatantly incorrect to a degree that i’d call it an outright lie, spending 30 seconds looking it up would show you that his video is literally titled “I Genetically Engineered MYSELF to Fix Lactose Intolerance”.
Shit - you know what? You’re right. It’s been a while since I saw the video, and I had it mixed up in my mind with a similar video I saw of a guy doing a fecal transplant to fix his lactose intolerance. I went back to check the Thought Emporium video, and yeah - he used a retrovirus to introduce the E. coli lacZ gene into his small intestine’s brush border cells. That’s my bad; sorry about the misinfo. You’re also right that I could have easily looked it up, but I went from memory instead, and it was… unreliable.
That virus will insert randomly into the genome. Huge risk of cancer, assuming it isn’t total bullshit like all of YouTube
