Mount Everest - an unlikely lab for a diabetes study
A series of medical studies conducted on Mount Everest aims to help people suffering from a variety of conditions, writes Kate Whitehead
The first thing most people who reach the summit of Mount Everest do is take a trophy photograph, but when Mike Grocott scaled the world's highest mountain in 2007 he had other things on his mind.
Grocott, professor of anaesthesia and critical care at the University of Southampton, was leading a team of "climbing doctors" to better understand the variation in terms of how people respond to oxygen, an important factor in determining why some people fare better than others in intensive care units.
The scientists are still sifting through the vast amount of data obtained from that study - Caudwell Xtreme Everest - as well as a second trip to Everest last year, but already they have made some breakthrough findings.
It was a very different experience to most people's climbing trips
It is the research into type 2 diabetes that is getting a lot of attention, particularly as rising global obesity levels mean the condition is more prevalent.
Type-2 diabetes is when cells in the body fail to respond to insulin, a hormone that helps regulate blood sugar levels. Too much sugar can be toxic and lead to kidney and nerve damage if left untreated. Although it used to be associated with older people, younger people are now affected, too.
In Hong Kong, about one in 10 people have diabetes mellitus, of which more than 90 per cent have type 2 diabetes.
The Caudwell Xtreme Everest study by the University of Southampton and University College London took 24 healthy volunteers to Everest Base Camp, which is at about 5,300 metres above sea level.