Diabetes is a lifestyle problem that has come up in a big way all over the globe in the last couple of decades. Type 2 diabetes involves insulin insensitivity which prevents blood glucose from being digested in the system. So far the only treatment available were minding your diet, exercising more and taking insulin shots.

Now researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have discovered that the protein FGF1 injected into mice with diabetes can control their blood sugar levels for nearly two days. This treatment not only keeps the blood glucose under control but also insulin insensitivity in the mice.

Naturally the discovery has sparked speculation of making a drug that could not just control type 2 diabetes but actually cure it. The director of Salk Institute’s Gene Expression Lab, Ronald M. Evans, said that FGF1 offers a new method to control glucose in a powerful and unexpected way.

The new protein treatment is also likely to have less adverse side effects than the current methods of treating diabetes with insulin. Mice without diabetes showed no reaction when injected, but those with diabetes showed substantial improvement in glucose levels. Naturally it is still in experimental stages, but there is hope that at the end of this science project there may lie a cure for diabetes.