It has been long known that diabetes is caused by a variety of factors such as genetic influences, insulin resistance, and physical inactivity, but now a team of Bangladeshi scientists has come up with a new cause of the disease.
Deficiency of intestinal enzyme, Alkaline Phosphatase, is one of the leading causes of developing diabetes among people, said a study revealed in Bangladesh capital Dhaka on Wednesday.
The study was published in the British Medical Journal recently and the findings were shared at a conference held at Birdem General Hospital this noon.
Diabetic Association of Bangladesh coordinated the study led by Dr Madhu S Malo, a former faculty at Harvard Medical School in USA, and an advisor to the Diabetic Association.
Bangladesh Medical and Research Council and the ministry of education funded the study.
A team of researchers from multiple local and foreign universities revealed the cause through a five-year investigation on 674 non-diabetic people, aged 30-60.
People with the Alkaline Phosphatese deficiency have 13.8 times higher risk of developing diabetes than those who do not, Madhu S Malo said.
The researchers have also developed a home-based mechanism to test the deficiency of the enzyme.
“We think this will be a breakthrough finding which can greatly contribute to the prevention of diabetes,” Prof Dr AK Azad, president of the association said in the press conference.
Researchers from Birdem, the Bangladesh Diabetic Association, Rajshahi University, Jahangirnagar University, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, and Harvard University were involved in the study.
Currently, there are 46 crore people with diabetes worldwide, while the number of diabetic patients in Bangladesh is more than 86 lakh.
