The causes of diabetes vary with the type of diabetes. The two major causes of diabetes are the body’s failure to produce enough of the insulin hormone, and secondly the body develops a resistance to insulin.
In other words, diabetes occurs when the pancreas does not create sufficient or any of the hormone insulin, or when the insulin produced does not work efficiently. Thus, this causes the level of glucose in the blood to be higher than normal levels.
Causes of Type 1 Diabetes
Type 1 diabetes is due to decreased production of insulin. In this type of diabetes, the cells in the pancreas that make insulin are attacked and destroyed by the body’s own immune system, causing a severe lack of insulin.
Type 1 diabetes generally develops in children, teenagers or young adults. Scientists and health experts believe that it is a genetically caused condition and is not related to lifestyle habits.
Some of the major risk factors for developing type 1 diabetes include:
- Family history - a child that has a parent or sibling with type 1 diabetes has a 2-6% chance of developing the disease.
- Autoimmune disorders such as thyroid disease and celiac disease increase the risk of type 1 diabetes.
- Early stoppage of breastfeeding and/or exposure to cow’s milk - breastfeeding an infant for at least three months decreases the risk of type 1 diabetes. Some studies also show that exposure to cow’s milk or cow’s milk-based formula before one year of age may increase diabetes risk.
- History of childhood virus diseases
- Ethnicity - Americans, Caucasians have a greater risk of type 1 diabetes as compared to African-Americans, Asian Americans and Latin Americans.
Causes of Type 2 Diabetes
Type 2 diabetes is due to insulin resistance in peripheral tissues. This type of diabetes is believed to develop when:
- The receptors on the human cells in the body that respond to the action of insulin fall short of being stimulated by it - known as insulin resistance. In reaction to this, more insulin may be produced, and this over-production exhausts the insulin-manufacturing cells in the pancreas
- There is just insufficient insulin available in the body and
- The insulin that is available may be abnormal and therefore doesn't function properly
Some of the major risk factors for developing type 2 diabetes include:
- Increasing age
- Diet which is high in fat and low in dietary fiber
- Family history
- Inactive lifestyle with no or very less physical activity
- Obesity
- High blood pressure
- Gestational diabetes
- Any illness or disease that damages the pancreas and affects its ability to produce insulin e.g. pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas) and thyrotoxicosis (a poisonous condition that results from an overactive thyroid gland).
- Hormone treatments, such as growth hormone, thyroid hormone and adrenocorticotropin hormone (ACTH).
- Certain medicines such as diurectics, which increase the amount of water flowing into the urine. Corticosteroids can also lead to diabetes because they work against the action of insulin.
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