Pancreas of the PIG

There is actually a fair amount of research in using the pancreas of pigs (either in dietary ways or in medical forms) on both the eastern and western sides. Some, including historical and modern, aspects of TCM have recommended digesting pig pancreas. This, however, is generally done along with acupuncture and other herbs. On the western front there are studies extracting the pancreatic enzymes and injecting them into the lining of a patients pancreas.

The general idea of how this works is In that there is a destruction in type 1 diabetes that happens where the immune system attacks the cells that produce insulin in the pancreas. By pulling them from bovine pancreas we can replace these. Human to human transfers are possible, but more complicated for a number of medical reasons.

The idea with ingesting the pancreas then, is that this would replace these cells similar to injecting them directly. Research is not conclusive in this area and there are some researchers who feel that injecting/digesting bovine pancreatic enzymes may cause other problems in the future. From what I've seen of the research, I wouldn't currently recommend it, but I have limited personal experience with this so others opinions would be greatly welcomed.

For type I diabetes we concentrate on acupuncture and Tong Ren Therapy. For type II diabetes we do the same with different points, and in many cases use a formula "Energy Enhancer" to help.

Acupuncture and Tong Ren Wise we focus on the following points (in addition to properly selected points based on the patients individual diagnosis - see acupuncture for diabetes):

Type I Diabetes:

Huatuo of T1, T2, T3 (bone marrow, thymus, lung/lymph collectively the immune system - useful for all auto-immune related conditions)

T7 (right side) - Abdominal Blood Vessels

ST 12 (right side) - Vagus nerve control of abdominal organs/vessels

Huatuo of T4 (breast, sweat glands)

KD 1 - ground energy, ST 21 - support stomach/spleen, KD 26 open chest

Type II Diabetes:

T7 (right) - abdominal blood vessels, T8 (right) pancreas

TH 16 - sky window open circulation to/from brain

GV 22 - hypothalamus

ST 21 (right) - support stomach/spleen

KD 1 - ground energy, KD 22 - open chest, TH 17 - sky window/circulation

Dear Rodney,

I am only a student of Oriental Medicine, not yet a fully qualified practitioner.

May I ask when you say 'they are now enjoying their normal conditions and maintain their diets...' what precicely do you mean by it? Did these patients consume certain amount of the pencreas for a given time and now completely cured or are they keep takinging a certain amount/dose each day as long as they have the symptoms?

Could you also elaborate on the diet such as how much do they consume, how often and for how long? Please be more specific if you may, in the future I do would like to do some research. Diabetes is on the rise and any method that works can help people.

Thank you!