Type 1 diabetes on the rise in kids

[Zizzle]

I was reading about the rise of Type I and II diabetes in kids. Of course, Type II is tied to obesity and mom's obesity during pregnancy. But type I is another story. It's interesting that researchers are totally clueless about the factors behind it.

Type 1 diabetes also on the rise

The prevalence of type 1 diabetes in children younger than 20 years of age increased 23%, up from 1.7 cases per 1000 individuals in 2000 to 2.1 cases per 1000 individuals in 2009. The increase occurred in male and female children of all ages, except those aged four years old and younger, and in all ethnicities except American Indians. In an analysis restricted to non-Hispanic white children, the group at highest risk for type 1 diabetes, the annual increase in the prevalence of type 1 diabetes was 2.6% annually over the 10-year study period.

"Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease, and although there are many multinational, multicenter studies and efforts focused on identifying factors responsible for this increase, we still don't know the reasons [for the increase]," said Dabelea. "One reason might be that children and infants in contemporary environments are less exposed than in the past to viruses and bacteria that might be needed for normal development of the immune system."

Other potential reasons for the increase include the fact that children are being born bigger and are growing faster early in life, and this has the potential to overload the pancreas, resulting in failure of beta cells in the face of an autoimmune attack, said Dabelea.