Black Bear Gall bladder Bile Said To Slow Type 1 Diabetes

Harvard scientists have discovered a chemical in bear bile that may slow the development of type 1 diabetes, according to a study in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

The bitter, yellow-green liquid drained from the innards of a bear is a common ingredient in many traditional Chinese medicines. Stored in the gallbladder of a black bear, bile is thought to cure everything from liver disease to epilepsy. It’s so precious that it costs about half as much as gold, said Gokhan Hotamisligil, a geneticist at Harvard University School of Public Health and a co-author of the study.

“The gallbladder of the bear was one of the most valuable voodoo medicines that people used, especially in China,” Hotamisligil said. “It almost made the black bear extinct [in China]. It started illicit harvesting and trafficking of bear gallbladder.” (See “Endangered Moon Bears Harvested for Bile in Vietnam.”)

The remedy has been prescribed for centuries—the first known medicinal reference to bear bile was recorded in 659 A.D.—and it’s still used today. “Some 10,000 bears are farmed in China to procure their bile for traditional Chinese medicine,” according to a 2012 letter published in the journal Nature.

In the past, it’s likely people got their bear bile after hunting the animals. But in the 1980s the People’s Republic of China invented a harvesting method that drains the bile while the animal is still alive. “An un-sterile … catheter was inserted through the external fistula directly into the gall bladders of each bear to drain the fluid daily either by gravity into a tray or by suction with an un-sterile syringe,” according to a 2009 study in the Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine.

Treating Diabetes
Luckily, no bears were harmed in the making of Hotamisligil’s study. You can get bear bile-like chemicals from other types of animals like oxen. Hotamisligil purchases it from a company that harvests it out of livestock. He’s using the unappetizing stuff in an attempt to resolve what he calls “the biggest global threat to health.”

“We believe in 25 years there will be in the range of half a billion people in the world with diabetes,” he said.

“The magnitude of the problem is intense. We’re going to face a huge problem if we don’t deal with this.”

There are two types of diabetes, type 1 and type 2. Type 1 diabetes happens when the immune system attacks and maims beta cells, which help produce insulin. Insulin regulates your blood sugar, which ebbs and flows depending on what you eat. Without it, your blood sugar can spike or drop so quickly that you go into a coma. In people with type 2 diabetes, the pancreas may produce insulin, but their bodies don’t respond to the hormone.

Type 1 diabetes is mostly a problem for children, who usually develop the disease in their early years up until young adulthood. Bile is rich in a chemical called TUDCA, which stands for tauroursodeoxycholic acid. The substance appears to shield the beta cells in mice models from immune system attack.

“If we give animals [TUDCA before they] become diabetic, they never become diabetic,” Hotamisligil said.
Their beta cells do not succumb to attacks from the body’s immune system, and they continue to produce
insulin, he added. “There is a very dramatic protection.”

Waiting for a Disease
Scientists have the ability to identify children who are at risk for developing type 1 diabetes, but right now, there’s nothing they can do with the information but wait for symptoms to develop. If bear bile is effective in humans, it could potentially slow or even halt the progression of this life-changing illness.

In higher concentrations, the bile might even help people at risk for type 2 diabetes, Hotamisligil said.

“The research is important because it shows the use of a very safe drug that could be used to either prevent or slow the onset of the disease,” said Rudy Leibel, a molecular geneticist at the Columbia University Medical Center in New York City who was not involved in the research.

The Harvard scientist has given himself a tight timeline. His team tried hundreds of thousands of molecules before settling on bear bile in 2004. Now Hotamisligil wants to move to human trials in no more than a year and a half. Because bear bile is already FDA-approved for clinical use, Hotamisligil’s goal might not be out of reach.

“The funding for biomedical research has been cut, [but] we will find resources one way or another and start a trial,” Hotamisligil said. “We’ll initiate this in humans.”

Harvard scientists have discovered a chemical in bear bile that may slow the development of type 1 diabetes, according to a study in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

The bitter, yellow-green liquid drained from the innards of a bear is a common ingredient in many traditional Chinese medicines. Stored in the gallbladder of a black bear, bile is thought to cure everything from liver disease to epilepsy. It’s so precious that it costs about half as much as gold, said Gokhan Hotamisligil, a geneticist at Harvard University School of Public Health and a co-author of the study.

“The gallbladder of the bear was one of the most valuable voodoo medicines that people used, especially in China,” Hotamisligil said. “It almost made the black bear extinct [in China]. It started illicit harvesting and trafficking of bear gallbladder.” (See “Endangered Moon Bears Harvested for Bile in Vietnam.”)

The remedy has been prescribed for centuries—the first known medicinal reference to bear bile was recorded in 659 A.D.—and it’s still used today. “Some 10,000 bears are farmed in China to procure their bile for traditional Chinese medicine,” according to a 2012 letter published in the journal Nature.

In the past, it’s likely people got their bear bile after hunting the animals. But in the 1980s the People’s Republic of China invented a harvesting method that drains the bile while the animal is still alive. “An un-sterile … catheter was inserted through the external fistula directly into the gall bladders of each bear to drain the fluid daily either by gravity into a tray or by suction with an un-sterile syringe,” according to a 2009 study in the Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine.

Treating Diabetes
Luckily, no bears were harmed in the making of Hotamisligil’s study. You can get bear bile-like chemicals from other types of animals like oxen. Hotamisligil purchases it from a company that harvests it out of livestock. He’s using the unappetizing stuff in an attempt to resolve what he calls “the biggest global threat to health.”

“We believe in 25 years there will be in the range of half a billion people in the world with diabetes,” he said.

“The magnitude of the problem is intense. We’re going to face a huge problem if we don’t deal with this.”

There are two types of diabetes, type 1 and type 2. Type 1 diabetes happens when the immune system attacks and maims beta cells, which help produce insulin. Insulin regulates your blood sugar, which ebbs and flows depending on what you eat. Without it, your blood sugar can spike or drop so quickly that you go into a coma. In people with type 2 diabetes, the pancreas may produce insulin, but their bodies don’t respond to the hormone.

Type 1 diabetes is mostly a problem for children, who usually develop the disease in their early years up until young adulthood. Bile is rich in a chemical called TUDCA, which stands for tauroursodeoxycholic acid. The substance appears to shield the beta cells in mice models from immune system attack.

“If we give animals [TUDCA before they] become diabetic, they never become diabetic,” Hotamisligil said.
Their beta cells do not succumb to attacks from the body’s immune system, and they continue to produce insulin, he added. “There is a very dramatic protection.”

Waiting for a Disease
Scientists have the ability to identify children who are at risk for developing type 1 diabetes, but right now, there’s nothing they can do with the information but wait for symptoms to develop. If bear bile is effective in humans, it could potentially slow or even halt the progression of this life-changing illness.

In higher concentrations, the bile might even help people at risk for type 2 diabetes, Hotamisligil said.

“The research is important because it shows the use of a very safe drug that could be used to either prevent or slow the onset of the disease,” said Rudy Leibel, a molecular geneticist at the Columbia University Medical Center in New York City who was not involved in the research.

The Harvard scientist has given himself a tight timeline. His team tried hundreds of thousands of molecules before settling on bear bile in 2004. Now Hotamisligil wants to move to human trials in no more than a year and a half. Because bear bile is already FDA-approved for clinical use, Hotamisligil’s goal might not be out of reach.

“The funding for biomedical research has been cut, [but] we will find resources one way or another and start a trial,” Hotamisligil said. “We’ll initiate this in humans.”