Type 1 Diabetes Causes

Type 1 diabetes is usually diagnosed between the ages of around 9 to 15 – and often even younger.

Type 1 diabetes is a chronic disease where the pancreas makes little to no insulin because the islet cells have been destroyed, some believe, because of an autoimmune disorder. The pancreatic islet cells that produce insulin are for some reason seen by the body as an “enemy”. This causes the body to create antibodies to fight this foreign tissue. These antibodies or antigens then destroy the insulin producing capacity of the islet cells and this results in the lack of insulin to metabolize the glucose in the blood.

But as for what causes type 1 diabetes, it has not been exactly determine what causes the immune system to trigger this response. There seems to be a genetic component involved as this form of diabetes does seem to run in families. There are some scientists who believe that the immune system response has been triggered by a viral or bacterial infection.

This type of diabetes usually starts quite abruptly, even though the damage to the cells began well before the disease started causing symptoms.

In the United States the prevalence of Type 1 diabetes is about 5-10% of the total of diabetes patients while in China and Japan below 1% of patients with diabetes have Type 1. It is estimated that 35 American children are diagnosed with juvenile diabetes each day.

In India, the children suffering from diabetes has risen by 4 to 5% since 1990. Most of these are Type 1 or juvenile diabetes.