New remedies for childhood diabetes

The Child diabetes it is ranked second in the most frequent chronic diseases in children. Spain already has 30,000 children affected by diabetes and this figure increases every year in approximately 1,500 new cases. New research has managed to develop seven new ingredients that will positively help the glycemic metabolism of children and adults.

Eight companies come together against diabetes

The Heunfood project brings together eight companies that after four years of research have created seven new healthy foods that will help prevent the onset of diabetes and have become the new remedies for childhood diabetes. The companies that comprise it are Gallina Blanca Star, Carinsa, Wild, Probeltebio, Ibermática, Fruselva, Central Lechera Asturiana and Bicentury.

Together with them collaborate the Catholic University of Murcia, the Lleida Unit (UdL), the Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology (IATA) of Valencia, the Nutrition Research and Food Safety Institute of the University of Barcelona, the Hospital del Doctor Peset from Valencia and Barcelona Digital.

Thanks to this research we have managed to develop seven new ingredients that will help positively regulate the glycemic metabolism of children and adults to prevent diabetes. In addition, it is expected that during the course of this year new products will be released to the market with plant extracts developed from plants, fruits and vegetables that will be presented in various formats: cookies, pasta, smoothies and ice cream. They have created "ingredients that allow basal and postprandial glucose decrease, as well as insulin resistance in 15 percent in healthy patients and 5 percent in type II diabetics," says Francisco Climent, CEO of the company Wild.

Diabetes in schools

Diabetes is a metabolic disease that affects children of all ages. It is characterized by a low insulin production, source of fuel for the body and which is responsible for the transformation of sugar into insulin, generating problems throughout the functioning of the body.

On June 12, representatives of the Foundation for Diabetes and the Murcia Regional Federation of Diabetic Associations met with the Director General of Public Health, Francisco García Ruiz, and the Director General of Educational Quality, María Begoña Iniesta, with the goal of to promote the signing of a protocol that acts in favor of the integration of children with diabetes in schools.

Each Educational Center usually has among its ranks of students one or more children diagnosed with diabetes. Each child faced with this disease must go through a period of adaptation. Having knowledge, information and learning about the disease significantly affects both the child and the family.

This signature aims to achieve the integration and normalization of children with diabetes in schools. Its objective is to provide information and training to teachers about diabetes, to ensure that all centers have first-aid kits with the necessary material to assist children, and that centers have a healthier diet. And, with the signature of a action protocol and the implementation of projects that improve the situation of children with diabetes in school, will be taking a step forward so that these children are made and grow on equal terms with the rest of their peers.

Noelia de Santiago Monteserín