Whey ahead for diabetes treatment

A company trying to make a diabetes remedy from whey is keen to work with Maori volunteers in its development.

Ben Van Rooy from Wellington-based WheyTech Bionics says the cheesemaking by-product is known to have anti-diabetic qualities.

The company is trying to see whether these can be developed to fight the biggest growing health condition in New Zealand.

“For instance in South Auckland alone there are about 50,000 people in Counties Manukau suffering from diabetes. In New Zealand it is the faster-growing health condition. It will not stop. It will grow to a huge cost for New Zealand and we really need to do something about that,” he says.

Ben Van Rooy says after trials with Massey University the company hopes to have proven the technology within a year.

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