What you need to know:
– The Leona M. Helmsley and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust will award $12 million in grants to support research to safely incorporate exercise into the lives of people with type 1 diabetes (T1D). announced major initiatives to improve the lives of people.
– Helmsley Charitable Trust is the world’s largest private foundation dedicated to funding T1D research. With this latest initiative, the Trust has committed more than $1 billion to support research efforts aimed at changing the lives of T1D patients.
Challenge: Unpredictable blood sugar levels and avoidance of exercise
Currently, T1D patients suffer from unpredictable blood sugar fluctuations during and after exercise, often leading to anxiety and avoidance of physical activity altogether. This lack of exercise can have a negative impact on your overall health and well-being.
The solution: targeted research and practical tools
The Helmsley Trust’s T1D Exercises Initiative (T1-DEXI) aims to address this challenge by funding seven diverse research projects, including:
- Develop and evaluate educational resources and tools for both patients and healthcare professionals.
- Improve insulin delivery systems and algorithms to better manage exercise-induced changes in blood sugar levels.
- Consider alternative approaches to managing exercise-related hypoglycemia, such as whey protein supplementation.
- Investigating the influence of menstrual cycle on T1D management and exercise.
The Helmsley Trust’s commitment to T1D research
“This initiative reflects our unwavering commitment to improving the lives of people with T1D,” said Deniz Dalton, program director of Helmsley’s T1D program. “By supporting innovative research, we are providing practical solutions that allow people with T1D to safely and confidently incorporate exercise into their daily lives, ultimately leading to improved health outcomes and quality of life. We want to connect.”
Specific research projects funded:
- Exercises suitable for diabetes: Integrate exercise education into the DiabetesWise platform and provide evidence-based information.
- Educational interventions to support diabetes exercise guidance (EDGE): Testing the effectiveness of a distance education program to improve glycemic control during exercise.
- Exercise-specific AID algorithms for T1D: Develop and test an algorithm for an automated insulin dosing system that specifically addresses exercise-induced blood glucose fluctuations.
- Developing a personalized decision support tool with onboard pure insulin: Consider using the on-board net insulin calculation to create a prototype tool for pre-exercise decision making.
- Utilizing new ultra-fast-acting insulin with AID: Assessing the safety and effectiveness of a new rapid-acting insulin for managing exercise-related blood glucose changes in patients using an automated insulin delivery system.
- Whey protein reduces the risk of hypoglycemia during exercise in T1D: To investigate whether whey protein can be an effective alternative to carbohydrate intake to reduce the risk of hypoglycemia during and after exercise.
- Effects of menstruation on blood sugar response and exercise: We study the effects of menstrual cycle and hormonal contraception on glycemic control and exercise in T1D patients.