To find a possible link between diabetes and toothpaste

A study from the University of Texas (USA) suggests that titanium dioxide present in toothpaste promotes the onset of type 2 diabetes. The research was published in the Chemical Research in Toxicology.

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is not a known component of any normal human tissue. Our body normally has many salts and compounds of metallic elements such as sodium, potbadium, calcium, iron and magnesium, as well as minor amounts of other metallic elements such as cobalt or molybdenum, but no titanium.

The team examined 11 pancreas samples, eight of which were from donors with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and three from donors who were not. While all three non-diabetic pancreatic tissue samples did not contain detectable TiO2 crystals, the crystals were detected in all eight T2D pancreatic tissue samples.

UT Austin researchers found more than 200 million TiO2 crystallites per gram of TiO2 particles in T2D donor samples, but not in all three non-diabetic donor samples. They published their findings last month in the journal Chemical Research in Toxicology

The UT study was conducted by Adam Heller, a professor in McKetta's Department of Chemical Engineering at the Cockrell School of Medicine. Engineering, winner in 2007 of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation and a long-time champion of diabetes research. Heller was one of the leading members of the teams who designed FreeStyle, the first painless glucose monitoring system used by millions of people with diabetes worldwide; and FreeStyle Libre system glucose sensing technology, developed by Abbott Diabetes Care.

"Our early results raise the possibility that type 2 diabetes may be a chronic inflammatory disease badociated with pancreatic crystal, similar to chronic inflammatory lung diseases caused by crystals, such as silicosis and osteoarthritis. Asbestosis, " says Heller.

According to the World Health Organization, the number of people with diabetes has quadrupled in the last four decades, affecting approximately 425 million people, and T2D includes the majority of registered cases. Although obesity and aging of the population are still considered important factors leading to an increase in T2D cases worldwide, the Heller study suggests that increased use of dioxide titanium may also be related to "The increase in the use of titanium dioxide in the last five decades could be a factor in the epidemic of type 2 diabetes" Heller said . "Pancreatic particles badociated with the dominant T2D consist of TiO2 crystals, which are used as dyes in the paint of food, medicine and interior walls, and are transported to the pancreas into the bloodstream. study raises the possibility that humanity is using more and more pigment TiO2 represents part of the overall increase in the incidence of T2D ".

Given the broad implications of their findings, Heller is eager to repeat the study, but this time with a larger sample. "We have already started a wider study" he said.

Heller collaborated with researchers Karalee Jarvis of the Texas Materials Institute of Cockrell School and Sheryl Coffman of the McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering. The pancreas samples that allowed the study were provided by the nPOD Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation at the University of Florida at Gainesville.