It's often said that timing is everything. New research suggests this may be true when giving an insulin pill to try to prevent or delay type 1 diabetes.

Researchers tested the effect of insulin pills on 560 children and adults whose relatives had type 1 diabetes. For most of them, the drug had no effect on whether or not they developed type 1 diabetes, or how quickly they developed it.

But for those at the highest risk of developing type 1 diabetes sooner rather than later, insulin pill therapy delayed the time it took to develop the full-blown disease by about two-and-a-half years, the researchers said.

"This is the largest study using oral insulin," said the study's lead author, Dr. Carla Greenbaum. Participants also had known autoantibodies that indicated a very high risk of developing type 1 diabetes in their lifetimes, said Greenbaum, chair of Diabetes TrialNet.

Read the full article on WebMD or the original JAMA publication.