The diabetes research led to the development of which medication for diabetics?

• A. Insulin
• B. Metformin
• C. Glucagon
• D. Acarbose

Answer: (A)

Insulin therapy represents the major breakthrough that comes directly from diabetes research. Diabetes, especially Type 1, involves a shortage or absence of the hormone insulin due to pancreatic beta-cell failure. Replacing this missing hormone with injections converts a once deadly disease into a manageable condition, allowing people to control blood glucose levels and live longer, healthier lives. The discovery in the early 1920s showed that insulin could rapidly lower high blood sugar in both animals and humans, making it a life-saving treatment and the standard therapy for diabetics.

Other options play important roles in diabetes care, but they aren’t the foundational breakthrough that came from early diabetes physiology research. Metformin was developed later to improve insulin sensitivity and reduce hepatic glucose production; glucagon is used to raise blood sugar in emergencies of hypoglycemia rather than treat the underlying diabetes; acarbose slows carbohydrate absorption to blunt postprandial glucose, mainly used in Type 2 diabetes.