Team Type 1 Launches First Clinical Study in Athletes with Type 1 Diabetes

Global sports organization Team Type 1, the official parent company of the Team Type 1- sanofi aventis professional men’s cycling team, announced the launch a clinical study at the Amgen Tour of California. The pioneering study conducted by the Team Type 1 Diabetes Sports Research Institute, will assess blood glucose levels of elite cyclists – both with and without diabetes – with a goal of identifying optimal levels for peak athletic performance. The study will be led by Institute Medical Director, Juan P. Frias, M.D. Dr. Frias is affiliated with the University of California San Diego Department of Medicine, and is the former Chief Medical Officer of Johnson & Johnson, Diabetes Care.

Throughout the eight stages of the Tour, which includes grueling climbs and hundreds of miles of racing from Lake Tahoe to Thousand Oaks, Team Type 1- sanofi-aventis athletes who have volunteered to take part in the study will wear continuous glucose monitors, while meters on their bikes measure parameters such as speed, power and energy expenditure.The study will continue at other cycling events throughout the racing season including the USA Pro Cycling Challenge in Colorado from August 22-28. Additionally, a controlled laboratory component is planned in collaboration with the San Diego State University School of Exercise and Nutritional Sciences.

There have been several athletes with type 1 diabetes who have competed and succeeded at the professional and Olympic levels, but there is very little published clinical data related to optimization of athletic performance in persons with type 1 diabetes and this study is a first step in filling the void in diabetes sports research.

Based in Atlanta, GA, Team Type 1 began as a grassroots initiative to motivate people to take control of their diabetes using cycling as a platform. It grew to become a world-class athletic program for athletes with diabetes, including a professional men’s cycling team, poised to compete at the 2012 Tour de France. Today, it is a global sports organization changing the lives of people with diabetes around the world through racing, groundbreaking research, international outreach and philanthropic initiatives in developing countries. The team was founded by type 1 athlete Phil Southerland. Diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at seven months old, Southerland’s mother was told he would either be blind or dead by the age of 25. At 29, he is alive and thriving, and is a global diabetes ambassador educating patients and medical professionals throughout the world on what is possible with good control.