In children with high-risk genes for type 1 diabetes, a mistaken reaction by the immune system that can start to attack the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas, is most likely to occur between six months and three years of age. This was shown in the results of the German BABYDIAB study and the international TEDDY study. This is why it is particularly advisable to take preventive steps to train the immune system in the first few years of life, before any symptoms of the destruction of the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas occur. In the best-case scenario, the development of type 1 diabetes can be avoided through this early training. If your child participates in the POInT study, they will be examined regularly. If your child does develop symptoms of the destruction of the insulin-producing cells, this can be identified at an early stage. There is no charge for the treatment and consultations carried out as part of the POInT study.

Initial promising results that training with insulin powder can succeed were found in a preliminary study known as the Pre-POINT study (JAMA 2015; 313(15):1-10. doi:10.1001/jama.2015.2928). Allergy research also provides further evidence that the concept of immune training can work in early childhood. In the published LEAP study, children who consumed peanuts up to the age of five developed a peanut allergy significantly less than the group that avoided peanut consumption (Du Toit G et al., N Engl J Med 2015).

Children aged between four and seven months can participate in the POInT study to prevent type 1 diabetes. At the beginning of the study, you and your child will be invited to regular examinations at intervals of two to four months until your child is one and a half years old. Your child will then be examined every 6 months until they are 3 years old. During this time, the study participants are given the contents of a capsule of powder each day. They take the powder together with food (e.g. stirred into baby food or yoghurt). Half of the participants are given insulin powder, and the other half are given a placebo (an inactive substance). It is a double-blind study, which means that neither the study participants nor the study staff know which capsules contain insulin and which contain the placebo. The treatment finishes when your child turns three years of age. Afterwards, further physical examinations and blood tests are carried out by our doctors at the study centre every six months. The longest possible period over which the follow-up visits will take place is until your child reaches seven and a half years of age.

Would you like to learn more about POInT and the study medication? Watch this video about taking the insulin powder

Oral administration of insulin in a type 1 diabetes intervention study

Helpful tips about giving insulin powder.

Please note that participation in the POInT study is no longer possible.

If your child has a 10% risk of developing type 1 diabetes, it can partcipate in the new AVAnT1A study.

Read more about the new AVAnT1A study.