Juvenile diabetes, often forces parents to maintain a delicate balancing act for keeping their child as healthy as possible. Every day, thousands of parents in Australia try to figure how much insulin to give their child. If, blood sugar levels drop below normal, diabetics can fall into a coma, particularly dangerous as it happens when a child is asleep.

The hormone insulin produced by the pancreas manages blood sugars, however, getting the dosage right can be rather tricky, involving a significant amount of guesswork. But, now offering hope to diabetics, scientists at Cambridge University in UK have designed an artificial pancreas, making the entire process much easier.

Angie Middlehurst says, Paediatric Diabetes Educator says there are lots of variables, for example, it’s a balancing act between insulin and exercise that lower blood glucose levels, and food that raises them. After a meal, without even knowing it, our pancreas and squirts out insulin, but for parents with a diabetic child, they have to work at it all the time, constantly balancing their child’s insulin, activity and diet.

With so many variables, it is easy that they may get it wrong. It’s always touch and go when they give insulin for controlling blood glucose levels, which can fluctuate between high and low, leading to behavioural problems. Not knowing whether it is normal behaviour or due to swinging blood glucose levels, adds to the difficulty, as well.

Research shows major fluctuations in blood sugar significantly impacts the cognitive, psychological and behavioural development of children with type 1 diabetes.

But, now researchers from Cambridge University have come up with a mathematical algorithm for figuring out how much insulin is needed to keep the child’s blood sugar levels within the range of safety.

The children participating in the trial did not experience any severe hypoglycaemia and there were also lesser episodes of mild hypoglycaemia. While, it may be around five years before the artificial pancreas reaches diabetics, the next step will be to combine the mathematical formula and the pump to make it convenient.

A significant breakthrough in diabetes management, the computer programme developed by scientists is able to take two technologies currently used in diabetes management i. e. a blood glucose sensor and insulin pump, automating them for ensuring correct insulin dosage is automatically injected around the clock, keeping blood sugar levels within the safe range.

The paper detailing results of the study have been published in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet, and a further trial of the artificial pancreas showed it to be capable of safely handling two otherwise risky events for a diabetic i. e. a large carbohydrate-rich meal and strenuous exercise before bed.

Around 140,000 Australians have type 1 diabetes, a genetic condition wherein the body destroys the insulin producing cells.

About 4% of the population has type 2 diabetes, which is an acquired condition linked to obesity.