That suspicion might seem counterintuitive given that diabetes dogma holds that being overweight tugs the body toward producing large amounts of insulin (as in type 2), not too little insulin. But some contend that the stress of producing all that extra insulin can burn out the insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas and push a child whose beta cells are already under attack into developing type 1 diabetes. This idea, called the accelerator or overload hypothesis, proposes that “if you have a kid who is chubby, that extra adiposity is going to challenge the pancreatic beta cells,” says Rebecca Lipton, an emeritus professor at the University of Chicago.* “In a child who has already started the autoimmune process, those beta cells are just going to fail more quickly, because they are being forced to put out more insulin than in a thin child.”
Overweight makes a logical perpetrator. People are packing on the pounds in rich countries and poor ones. Of course, investigators want to do more than just to explain the rise of type 1 diabetes; they want to prevent it. Unfortunately, if excess weight is a major contributor to the problem, that task will not be easy. No one, so far, has been able to slow the global obesity epidemic. (By 2048, according to researchers from Johns Hopkins University, all American adults will be at least overweight if present trends continue.) Until societies can ensure that most children (not to mention adults) are more physically active, eat healthfully and maintain a normal weight, diabetes researchers will be in the position of detectives who, having solved a murder, realize they can do nothing to prevent the next one.
*Erratum (2/17/12): Rebecca Lipton is incorrectly identified as an emeritus professor. She is a retired associate professor.
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72 Comments
Add CommentI hope researchers are correlating this rise in autoimmune disease with childhood vaccination rates.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI think this rise in type 1 diabetes, along with the rise in autism, allergies/autoimmune diseases in kids, is likely related to excessive stimulation of the immune system, e.g. vaccination. When you start putting protein antigens into the bloodstream along with aluminum adjuvants, you run the risk of the body attacking similar looking proteins. People with celiac often experience this with their thyroid. In diabetes, something has triggered damage to pancreatic cells.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI am very surprised that the author does not even mention cow's milk. Studies published in various journals - Lancet, Diabetes, Pediatrics, New England Journal of Med, to mention a few - have suggested an association between cow's milk and Type I.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs we scan the globe it is clear that the more cow's milk is consumed the higher the incidence of diabetes. Finland, one of the top consumer of dairy has the highest rate of diabetes. Japan is just the opposite.
With the mounting evidence, one may say that feeding a child cow's milk is borderline criminal these days.
Food for thought indeed: No other mammal than us uses another mammal as a wet-nurse to raise its offspring!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNever mind the wrong baby formula- with its totally different carbohydrate vs. protein ratio, let alone the gruesome milkshake ingredients, of growth hormones, DDT , antibiotics...It's all in the name of the Milk of Human/Bovine Kindness,providing highly lucrative growth rates - from gross national products to the diabetes I & II Industries,not to mention the flourishing breast & prostate cancer trade.
I have had Type 1 diabetes since I was 4 years old in 1947. I have been interested in the increase in Juvenile Onset diabetes. About 2 years ago I read an article that had the total number of Type 1 diabetics at different years. I used the data and did a linear regression on the data points starting with 1 in 1929 when insulin treatment was initiated. The curve with the best R2 score was an exponential growth curve with a half life of about 20 years. This 20 year period is pretty close to the time period between generations and I concluded that the growth was due to the fact that the people who managed to live long enough to reproduce. Thanks to insulin, we have doomed the human race to inevitable increases in Juvenile Onset Diabetes.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBefore we take correlation of utilization of vaccination, cow's milk, or use of insulin as proof that they are the cause of the increased incidence of Type 1 diabetes, we need to establish causation. What about the likely correlations with pesticide, herbicide, plastic additives with endocrine mimic properties, petrochemicals, heavy metals, and potentially unrecognized toxins? My favored theory is that some pathogen is inducing an autoimmune response as it tries to hide within the human body, perhaps a virus or atypical organism. An example, albeit a bacterium, is Strep, which results in rheumatic heart disease. If we simply use correlation without establishing causation, we risk undoing the good of things like vaccination, and might as well start wearing tin-foil hats while we are at it.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt is remarkable that the antivaccine issue comes up even in an article that attributes the observed outcome to the HYGIENE hypothesis (LACK of stimulation of the immune system). How do you get to overstimulation of the immune system from there?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI am a Type I diabetic for 31 years, since age 40, but also have a PhD in biochemistry. I have no secondary complications because I have rigorously controlled my blood sugars. I have also read a great deal of literature about diabetes. One thing in the article which really stood out was the low rate of Type I in Cuba. The Soviet Union had strongly supported Cuba, providing among other things, petrochemical herbicides and pesticides. When the Soviet government changed to the present form of Russian government, aid to Cuba was cut off. The Cubans had to learn agriculture all over again, using natural techniques, with not chemically produced agricultural chemicals. They now have high levels of organic farming. Could this lack of petrochemicals in farming be connected to the low incidence of Type I diabetes? Consider this in light of the previous article in Sci Am about how we are surrounded by so many man made chemicals, and indeed have hundreds in our bodies. Consider also that we are finding that vanishingly small amounts of chemicals can disrupt our biology (for example endocrine mimics). I would think this is worth investigation.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFollowing onto "Fireassay"... it is most curious as to why the effects on the human gene pool by the use of insulin and the resulting decline in early mortality of juvenile onset diabetics were left unmentioned in the article. Saving lives is medically appropriate... but there can often be consequences.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou know the crazies are coming out when 6 different conspiracy theories pop out in the first 6 posts...and then they keep em coming! Some will be right while some will be wrong. Not vaccinating your kids because you fear Diabetes doesn't do you a lot of good when they die of whooping cough, right? Why don't we just calm down, eliminate or reduce the environmental factors in our lives that are bad for other reasons (pesticides, gluten, obesity, etc.), and wait to see what the people that actually know what their doing say about this issue, mkay?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis seems like the logical conclusion to me and explains the growth in many other diseases also. Never before in the history of man have so many people survived to adulthood to reproduce.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe author makes this statement "type 2 form of the illness, which mostly starts causing problems in the 40s and 50s and is tied to the stress that extra pounds place on the body’s ability to regulate blood glucose".
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis is an unsupported assertion and brings into question the clarity of the article's analysis. The "stress" of factors that lead to diabetes may very well lead to obesity. This kind of in-the-box thinking isn't going to help. So the article says obesity causes type 2 diabetes. Can you hear the limb cracking? You may be way out too far on it.
Whay am I not surprised that the 1st post here points the finger at vaccinations? After the MMR-autism hypothesis was thoroughly debunked, I had hoped that this kind of foolishness would have died down.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMake that the 1st 2 posts. Gah!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCow's milk has been consumed in northern Europe for thousands of years. If it were to blame, we'd have seen the spike long ago. The reason for the lower use of cow's milk in places like Japan is the nearly 100% incidence of lactose intolerance there.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAn interesting point. The suggestion that diabetes treatments have preserved & proliferated susceptibility genes in the population is a plausible one - far better than the vaccination stab-in-the-dark.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI also wonder if there might be an epigenetic link between type I diabetes & maternal obesity. the article talks about childhood obesity, but doesn't address mommy's health while the kid was in utero.
"So the article says obesity causes type 2 diabetes."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisActually, it only says there's a LINK between obesity & type II diabetes and examines some hypotheses which suggest mechanisms by which obesity MIGHT cause diabetes. It never say that it IS the cause.
I'm 33 years old and I'm a Type 1 since 7 years now, and the fact that I became Type 1 at the exact same period my father also became Type 1 at 49 years old tells me that the bacteria or virus is the best bet. There must be some genetic disorder in this equation, but the kick start must have been made by something we got at the same time in our environment. In our case, there's no link between the age and the disease and, for the vaccination hypothesis, my father and I aren't from the same generation and my brothers have had the same vaccins I got when I was a kid, so I can't see any link here too. This can't be a simple coincidence.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI agree with fireassay.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisType 1 diabetes has a genetic factor. If people now breed, who once would have died before breeding, then the genetic predisposition is going to increase.
Sources that seem reliable, academic researchers, tell me that the human race acquires about 200 negative mutations per generation. Perhaps we are seeing entropy that is helped along by all the rest of this stuff.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMilk consumption has DECREASED over the years, not increased. We can check that one off the list of hypotheses. http://adc.bmj.com/content/83/1/18.short
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thissault-
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDo you mean the crazies who insist injecting babies with toxic heavy metals like aluminum and mercury can have no adverse effect on their developing immune systems? You're the ones making extraordinary claims, so the burden of proof is on YOU.
Or the crazies who ignore the June, 2000 study that found a near doubled incidence of neurological problems in vaccinated kids?
And that was AFTER massaging the data to improperly exclude sick kids from the study by changing the parameters. You can read the transcript of industry reps conspiring with regulators to commit fraud HERE:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/2887572/Simpsonwood-Transcript20Searchable
Hmmm - who are the people who know what they are doing? It certainly is not the ADA, WHO, CDC or the AMA.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe rise in DM1 is not a conspiracy, it's not dairy, vaccinations & environmental toxins may aggravate the situation, and it is genetics but only because we are genetically - Homo sapiens. Quite frankly, neither dogs nor cats are "grain eaters" and have the exact same health problems due to the grain based kibble we feed them. Our health maladies (all of them) are directly due to the fact that we are NOT eating a "species appropriate diet". The root cause at issue here is a diet with strong basis in grains & gluten based grains that mediate an autoimmune response whereby our immune system attacks our own beta cells. Wean a baby off of mother's milk (if the child is so luck as to have had that beginning) and then directly on to "cereal". The total picture is a bit more complex - involving how we have selectively bred wheat (which has increased the gluten/gliadin/anti-nutrient concentration), toxic levels of omega 6 fats, epigenetic gates, and the lack of healthy saturated animal fats that protected previous generations... to put it more graphically - we are hunter-gatherers and we are eating like "chickens" (or if you prefer, rats). Reminder: Natural selection is always at play & will have the final “say” on all this but few, if any of us will be alive to witness the results. And, SAULT - yes, I am a physiologist who works with diabetes, not an armchair commentator making wild or absurd speculations. Throwing insults is a very primitive method of discourse. There is real fear and concern regarding these issues and our "experts" are giving us the wrong direction, we are getting sicker - so of course, there is some covert reason. Indeed there is - capital gain. Vive Vida!
Re the increase of diabetes I. It seems quite to be expected. The disease has a large component of inheritibility and we keep all the Type I's alive to breed more Thype I's. In past times they died off due to the disease in their early years in the normal mechanism of the survival of the fittest which is evolution at work.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhy is there surprise in the community mind?
Evolution is ruthless and ugly in the eyes of the present population, but it is what got us here in the first place.
Thats cool you have had Type 1 since 1947! The regimen was really drummed into you back then. Mine only dates from 1978, but so far so good. I believe you are correct in your analysis...the increasingly younger age of onset would bear this out as reflecting an increased incidence of reinforcement.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat if there is a mechanism that causes more active islet cells to attract the attention of immune cells? It could be the insulin itself, cell proliferation or other metabolic products that depend on the pancreatic activity, i.e. intake of simple carbohydrates, that act as an antigen.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisJust like the other body fat related hypothesis in the article this would mean that there's a continuum between Type 1 and Type 2.
There is a lot of good research which has been published which I don't see mentioned in the original article and the comments. Here in Seattle we have an annual meeting in which people from Malmo Sweden and local researchers report on their findings. They state that the epidemic is highest in Seattle and Malmo. But also, to comment on the idea of us Type Is breeding, it used to be that 1/2 of all diabetics did not become so until around age 40, as happened to me. I already had children. And, although the sample size is too small, non of them has become diabetic. The big change is that less 40s people and more younger children are coming down with Type I. Something has caused a shift in age of onset.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPlease don't forget that we all have an average of 400 man made chemicals in our bodies, and that increases all the time, which could be causing the problem. In fact, read about the autoimmune epidemic. Diabetes is not the only problem. AutoImmune Epidemic, I think Nakazawa.
Answering the comment of someone else, that perhaps insulin is a or the antigen in causing attacks on beta cells. Yes, two publications, I think in Science, which I have sitting here somewhere, do show that insulin is a causative antigen. What if our increasingly carbohydrate rich diet is causing bodies to produce much more insulin, causing this immune response.
It really matters where you get your calories. I have tracked my blood sugar after meals for more than 30 years now. When you eat a lot of carbs, you get a quick increase in blood sugar, peaking high and early. If you eat a lot of protein, the response is delayed, and spread out, the blood sugar does not go as high. With fats the response is even lower and later. And remember, that the higher the blood sugar, the more rapid the formation of the Schiff bases (sugar plus protein) which lead to secondary complications. I don't think diet is the only cause, but I think it takes part. Look how our diet has changed in the last 40 years. A big food source now is hydrolyzed corn starch. Know what that is? Glucose! Blood sugar! So when you drink your soft drink and many other products, you are getting a very simple carbohydrate, which is the bad guy in the blood for diabetes, and it goes into the body so fast it is even absorbed in the walls of the mouth. Ditto for fruit juices or honey, which have become increasingly popular. I only eat whole fruit, and only when I have hypoglycemia, and only 1/2 a fruit at a time.
Not doomed the human race to inevitable increases in Juvenile Onset, you by living has pass on the tools for other to live! How many have died lack of the tools you have been using lack of the knowledge. Because of better communication data bases, better medicine, science and new media sources this knowledge being passed on for others to fight this disease, Thank you fireassay.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThank you S.A.for the article on diabetes and the 28 comments.Some comments first grade !
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDr. Kamlander@aon.at
In 2001 there was a publication in the Lancet (Hyponen). 10.366 newborns received 2000 IU vitamin D during the first year. After 30 years the incidence of diabetes type 1 was 78% lower.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSo the answer is that the increasing numbers of diabetes type 1 is caused by a vitamin D deficiency.
The government only recently raised AGAIN the amount of iron they add to our foods. They believe we are low in iron filings.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Type 1 diabetes mellitus is believed to be due to the damage inflicted by iron overload of the pancreatic beta cells"
"Dietary iron intake in the first 4 months of infancy and the development of type 1 diabetes: a pilot study"
"High iron intake in the first 4 months of infancy"
One might also bet Cuba doesn't fortify their foods with iron ?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"type 2 form of the illness, which mostly starts causing problems in the 40s and 50s"
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSince iron is also found in those with type 2 diabetes one might wonder if it the age-related iron accumulation which is found in those in their 40s and 50s ?
"The role of iron in type 2 diabetes in humans"
"Excess Iron Storage in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes"
"Iron Overload and Type 2 Diabetes - Medscape"
"Iron Intake and the Risk of Type 2 Diabetes in Women"
Since we KNOW an excess of iron causes diabetes and this study shows a decrease of diabetes with vitamin D supplementation , what connection could be made that in those who are treated for iron excess have their vitamin D levels go up ? Is the iron CAUSING a vitamin D deficiency somehow ? Since the iron seems inversely proportional to the vitamin D ?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"The results reveal that the low serum 25-OHD concentration in patients with hemochromatosis is directly related to the extent of iron loading
and it is improved by venesection therapy."
"Six of the male meat-eaters also underwent phlebotomy to lower their blood iron concentration range to that of the vegetarian group. Steady-state plasma glucose concentrations were 41% lower after phlebotomy
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this(P=0.0008), "indicating enhancement of insulin-stimulated glucose disposal following Fe depletion."
"Low iron status and enhanced insulin sensitivity in lacto-ovo vegetarians."
"Mildly elevated body iron stores are associated with statistically significant elevations in glucose homeostasis indexes."
I agree with fireassay. My two daughters were diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at the ages of 3 and 7. I strongly feel it occurs because of a combination of genes and an environmental trigger (probably the flu or other illnesses such as chicken pox, etc.,...any illness that would put a major strain on the body). Both of my daughters' Diabetes occurred as a result of the flu and a combo of the "right" genes. Although my daughters do not yet have children, they have lived to adulthood and could easily begin a new generation that would have a greater chance of inheriting the genes that predispose them to Juvenile Diabetes. When they were diagnosed 26 and 24 years ago surviving to adulthood without complications was what we were hoping for, (knowing that it would take excellent control of blood sugars to achieve this)as was them having the opportunity to someday have an uncomplicated pregnancy and a healthy child. The insulin pump and simple blood glucose machines have made all of that possible. I don't feel that vaccinations or milk have anything at all to do with Type 1 Diabetes onset. I feel that fireassay is totally right on with their assessment that longer life expectancy is making the difference in the rise in numbers.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs the mother of two Type 1 Diabetic daughters I can tell you from my experience it is probably genes and an environmental trigger...probably the flu. That is the case of my daughters. Keeping an open mind...the trigger could possibly be pesticides, milk, vaccinations...etc. When the verdict is finally read...my guess would be genes and a trigger (the flu, chicken pox or some major childhood illness). My older daughter had the flu and it was two years after the flu, before she was diagnosed. I watched it happen, as I knew all of the symptoms from my younger daughter who was diagnosed within weeks of having the same flu.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMy youngest daughter was 3 when diagnosed. At the age of 1 she had her first case of the flu.
After her diagnosis and her sister's diagnosis I realized that she too had probably been about two years slowly developing Type 1 Diabetes. I was able to step back and look at the whole picture and everything kind of fit together.
I think that every angle of this should be considered including milk, pesticides and vaccinations. My motherly instinct tells me I'm probably right.
As far as genetics...that is a definite...as they have both been tested.
"I think that every angle of this should be considered including milk, pesticides and vaccinations. My motherly instinct tells me I'm probably right."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI suppose that would include ALOT of work.
I propose we continue to investigate the role of iron.
"Iron Depletion Therapy for Type 2 DM and NAFLD"
http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00230087
"Type 1 diabetes mellitus is believed to be due to the damage inflicted by iron overload of the pancreatic beta cells"
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Meat Protein Fractions Enhance Nonheme Iron Absorption in Humans."
"beef and chicken muscle increased iron absorption 180%"
"There are two types of dietary iron, heme iron, derived from animal products, and non-heme iron, derived from plant products. It has long been demonstrated that animal products such as meat, poultry and fish enhance non-heme iron absorption in humans"
Type 1 diabetes due to vaccinations?? Over-stimulation of the immune system?? Come on, please!! Do you folk have any IDEA how much the immune system of the average person - and especially child - in an average developing country city is stimulated??
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFor example, one of the reasons oral (=live) polio vaccination was a problem in India, is because kids were exposed to or infected with so many genetically related enteroviruses that the vaccine simply couldn't bind the right receptors - and so didn't infect or immunise.
Testing sera in Africa for HIV antibodies in the early days was bedevilled by the fact that IgG concentrations were so high due to exposure to a plethora of disease agents, that false positives often resulted.
If anything, kids are UNDER-exposed to infectious agents these days - and wouldn't that be an interesting cause of diabetes? Not so outlandish an idea, if you consider people are seriously proposing it as a cause of the rise in childhood asthma.
First off, putting quotes around something doesn't make it a reliable source. If you're going to refer to outside source, please provide a link to the actual article/paper.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"'Type 1 diabetes mellitus is believed to be due to the damage inflicted by iron overload of the pancreatic beta cells'"
This is a single line from a paper about type 1 diabetes in patients with beta-thalassemia, a disease marked by the inability to produce hemoglobin, resulting in blood iron levels you'd never see in people without the condition. It's totally irreleveant to a discussion of the causes of T1D in non-BT patients. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15450007
"'Dietary iron intake in the first 4 months of infancy and the development of type 1 diabetes: a pilot study'"
You really should thoroughly read your sources before drawing conclusions from them. This one clearly states: "In this pilot study, high iron intake in the first 4 months of infancy is associated with T1DM. Whether iron intake is causal or a marker of another risk factor warrants further investigation." http://www.dmsjournal.com/content/2/1/58
"'High iron intake in the first 4 months of infancy'"
This is just a partial quote from the conclusion of the paper above. It says nothing useful by itself.
"'Iron Depletion Therapy for Type 2 DM and NAFLD'
http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00230087"
An incomplete study - without results, it adds nothing to the discussion.
"'Meat Protein Fractions Enhance Nonheme Iron Absorption in Humans.'"
This paper says nothing about diabetes. http://jn.nutrition.org/content/136/11/2808.full
"'beef and chicken muscle increased iron absorption 180%'"
Another pointless partial quote from the paper above it.
"'There are two types of dietary iron, heme iron, derived from animal products, and non-heme iron, derived from plant products. It has long been demonstrated that animal products such as meat, poultry and fish enhance non-heme iron absorption in humans'"
Another quote from a paper unrelated to diabetes.
http://www.fasebj.org/cgi/content/meeting_abstract/25/1_MeetingAbstracts/607.17?sid=0606ab5f-f8c3-4263-8ca4-8be5b61be5e8
Irrelevant references add nothing to the discussion.
"If anything, kids are UNDER-exposed to infectious agents these days - and wouldn't that be an interesting cause of diabetes?"
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe article talks about that on page 2 ("the hygiene hypothesis"). Given that T1D is an autoimmune disorder - basically an allergic reaction where the allergen is yourself - and over-sanitization of children's early tears has repeatedly been implicated in the rise in childhood allergies (see below), I'd say is a highly plausbile hypothesis.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21734378
http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/305/14/1400.extract
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19710512
It seems you would RATHER not take the findings as the researchers have presented them which is? associations. ENOUGH of an association to warrant a clinical trial by the NIH. I'm glad you believe you are well enough endowed to speak negatively about an ongoing NIH clinical trial but ME ? I don't believe you are. Trying to say iron doesn't cause type 1 diabetes by requoting a study which says it DOES is kind of counterproductive to your argument. Imho. You SAY iron doesn't build to high enough levels to cause type 1 diabetes but you fail to include any references. Try to at least reciprocate MY references. iydm. Thanx.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat is Hemochromatosis (iron overload or "bronze" diabetes)?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHemochromatosis is a disease that causes the body to store excessive amounts of iron in the body. It is an inherited disorder that can lead to the onset of type 1 diabetes after years of iron overload which can damage the pancreas.
"It seems you would RATHER not take the findings as the researchers have presented them which is? associations."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOn the conatrary, YOU are the one trying to present the research as something other than what the scientists intended. You tried to paint association as causation. They clearly stated that they could not make a causal relationship without further investigation.
"I'm glad you believe you are well enough endowed to speak negatively about an ongoing NIH clinical trial but ME ? I don't believe you are."
ONGOING is the key word there. Until the study is completed and results are published it is grossly premature for you or anyone else to draw any conclusions about it.
"Trying to say iron doesn't cause type 1 diabetes by requoting a study which says it DOES is kind of counterproductive to your argument."
If you're referring to the beta-thalassemia paper, what I said was that you can't extrapolate a connection between BT induced iron levels and T1D out to the population as a whole. I have never said that iron ISN'T involved in T1D, only that the "evidence" you've produced thus far is not strong enough to draw such a conlcusion.
"You SAY iron doesn't build to high enough levels to cause type 1 diabetes but you fail to include any references."
I said nothing of the sort. What I said was that research about T1D in patients with medical conditions that cause extremely high blood iron levels can't legitimately be used to implicate dietary iron intake in T1D cases where the additional condition is absent. And your mutliple references to papers that investigate blood iron levels but make no mention of diabetes are utterly irrelevant to this discussion.
Back in comment #34, you said "Since we KNOW an excess of iron causes diabetes", but we don't know anything of the sort. what we DO know is that people with certain blood disoders (BT & hemochromatosis) have elevated iron levels and are at increased risk of T1D. We DON'T know yet whether (a)the iron causes the T1D, (b)some other feature of the blood disorder causes the T1D or (c) the blood disorder and the T1D have some other underlying cause in common.
"you can't extrapolate a connection between BT induced iron levels and T1D"
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this???
It is a 'human model of diabetes'. Just because they happen to have a disease which loads iron which LEADS to diabetes doesn't mean that one CAN'T extrapolate WHEN other studies show the EXACT same thing. Iron , as in Bronze diabetes , leads to type 1 diabetes.
As to iron NOT causing diabetes ? You have to be pretty late in the game if you don't KNOW iron causes type 1 as evidenced in the aforementioned Bronze diabetes which has been known to be caused by iron for many years.
"An animal model of iron overload was successfully developed in rats and rabbits by repeated intraperitoneal injections of ferric nitrilotriacetate (Fe3+-NTA). This procedure induced a diabetic state with hyperglycemia, ketonemia, glycosuria and ketonuria. Blood venesection on these rats reduced the iron load in the liver and pancreas, and ameliorated the general diabetic symptoms."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisKSama - You have proven 2 things;
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this1) You are very fond of your own posts and dislike anyone that points out very real flaws in your logic (or lack thereof)
2) There is a real possibility that a tiny group of people might be subjected to a form of type 1 diabetes due to a blood disorder.
Considering that many people (such as myself) with high iron in their blood don't get type 1 diabetes, (or suffer any negative impact tied to high iron levels) the first item you proved vastly outweighs anything related to item 2. All you do is ruin the possible credibility of the theory that iron levels is related to type 1 diabetes.
"Considering that many people (such as myself) with high iron in their blood don't get type 1 diabetes, (or suffer any negative impact tied to high iron levels)"
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe ONLY argument that has been presented is "not proven" , "association" , "more studies required" , BUT nowhere do I see anything references other than those words. No argument presented other than those words and phrases. Those words are ALWAYS used by someone with some ulterior motives as to their 'interest' in a thread. Imho. As to YOUR opinion , it sounds pretty much the same.
"And your mutliple references to papers that investigate blood iron levels but make no mention of diabetes are utterly irrelevant to this discussion."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhy wouldn't they. The argument being iron levels rise to cause diabetes. The absorption RATE of iron therefore obviously involved.
Iron deposits in the pancreas , the spleen , the heart and the liver. The thread is destruction of beta cells in the ? pancreas.
"We found that healthy individuals absorbed about 16x more iron from the hamburger meal than the wheat muffin meal."
With Regards to “A Diabetes Cliffhanger”, Maryn McKenna wrote about competing hypothesis to the causes of the increased rate of Type I Diabetes. As an Orthopaedic Hand Surgeon I have the opportunity to treat a large number of patients who have autoimmune diseases.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOne patient in particular has been in remission for over ten years with the diagnosis of CREST Syndrome which is a serious autoimmune condition affecting multiple organ systems. Her alternative medicine provider has been treating this condition with digestive enzymes. She is not taking any other medications. The rational for this treatment is to break down food to their most elemental size so when it is absorbed through a porous intestinal wall, the food will not be large enough to elicit an antibodies response in the blood. The immune response could then attack host organ tissue such as Beta cells in the pancreas or possibly cause other rheumatologic conditions.
I have seen a patient with the diagnosis of celiac sprue who also had Henoch-Schonlein purpura, (HSP). This is an immune response to small blood vessels. He had HSP for over 2 months and was not improving. I recommended digestive enzymes, which he started and within one week both his abdominal problems as well as the HSP resolved. It should be noted HSP is usually a self -limiting but he has been symptom free of abdominal discomfort for more than two years and has no diet restrictions as long as he uses enzymes with his meals.
My hypothesis is that industrialized societies have shifted to processed foods thus eliminated most natural enzymes in many fresh fruits and vegetables. This has affected the digestive tracts ability to breakdown food and changed the “porosity” of the intestinal wall causing larger food particles to be absorbed into the bloodstream and stimulating immune mediated responses such as Type I Diabetes and celiac disease, (which the above case may be misdiagnosed without tissue biopsy.) Many autoimmune diseases seem to be associated with intestinal mal-absorption problems. I would also contend that processed foods are also associated with obesity.
I would like to qualify this statement that I am by no means an expert in autoimmune conditions or a gastroenterologist. I am just an observer with over 17 years of medical/surgical experience. I would also like to state that this is anecdotal and would hope someone smarter than I would study this.
Respectfully Yours,
Michael B. Grillot, M.D.
"This concludes genetic iron excess to be associated with celiac."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"In spite of this incidence of purpura in hemochromatosis, it is not generally mentioned as a frequent symptom."
While I am sympathetic to the many possible sophisticated causes of type 1 diabetes such as pesticides or indeed, natural selection(positive bias), I wonder whether anyone has done any work on correlating living standards with the incidence of type 1 and type 2 diabetes: I am told in comments above that Cuba's rate of T-1 is falling-I can only imagine how low the incidence of T-1 and T-2 might be in Nth Korea.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt would not surprise at all that the recent global boom was the primary cause of the so called 'obesity epidemic' and that the current global slowdown (read destruction of wealth ) will be followed by evidence of an improvement in obesity rates: though I suspect that the causality will not be made as it might just be too simple for many to accept.
Any information relating to the above I would be pleased to read.
To KSama, I Hope you are not mistaking hemochromatosis to HSP just because the word purport is included? They are not even remotely similar.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thismbgrillot...many thanks for your comments posted 29 Jan. My mother has scleroderma arising from Raynaud's phenomenon. At age 76 she recently had all toes of one foot removed and in recent months has suffered a number of other health issues of a serious natrue. I wonder whether her condition, being autoimune in nature, might benefit from a similar protocol?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou should have her speak with her physician. This is pretty much alternative treatment and anecdotal. Good luck.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI am not sure how you think Henoch-Schonlein purpura and iron excess are not related WHEN the medical study below , which I included , says it is.
"In spite of this incidence of purpura in hemochromatosis, it is not generally mentioned as a frequent symptom."
Since free radicals have been touted as a CAUSE of autoimmune disease , again I must wonder HOW you came to your conclusion that the disease , Henoch-Schonlein purpura , is NOT related to iron excess when both purpura and autoimmune disease are related to Henoch-Schonlein purpura ? Iron causes free radicals.
"Free radical theory of autoimmunity"
"Vasculitis of the central nervous system associated with systemic hemochromatosis in superficial siderosis. Therapeutic approach included immunosuppressive therapy and venupunctures in the patient with vasculitis and hemochromatosis, and symptomatic treatment with chelating agents and antioxidants. The patient remained clinically stable for the follow-up period of up to 2 years."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI agree with fireassay, but would like to carry the argument a bit further. It seems that those studying this phenomena may have put aside genetics too quickly. Radical, sudden changes to a gene pool can cause radical, sudden changes to a species. 100 years ago, the infant mortality rate was dramatically higher than today. Most infant mortality was caused by infection. Those who survived to reporoduce tended to have better immune systems. With the advent of antibiotics, more humans with more compromised immune systems survive to reproduce. Those individuals then have children with even more compromised immune systems who survive to reproduce. Throughout the human population, this radical change in the gene pool has occured over three to five generations. Of course, if this is the root cause there is no practical solution. I rather doubt anyone will be willing to return to a 25%-50% infant mortality rate just to stop Type 1 diabetes. Side note: I became a Type 1 at 23 while an officer in the Army. I was in excellent physical condition and had never been overweight.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs I read this article, I could not help but feel that the issue of genetic predisposition was overlooked as a major factor for TYPE 1 diabetes. As Type 1 diabetics live longer,the prevalence of Type 1 diabetes increases giving rise to the potential for passing on any predisposing factors to their offspring(s). The omission of this factor may skew the importance of environmental causes. Genetics should be considered as an important and influential factor for the increased incidence of diabetes.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGenetics has been considered, and a number of studies show that people are now developing type 1 who have only moderate or low genetic risk.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhile a number of factors are linked to type 1 development, there is growing evidence that environmental chemicals may play a role in type 2 diabetes and obesity, and perhaps type 1 as well. I've reviewed the scientific studies on various environmental factors and diabetes at:
http://www.diabetesandenvironment.org.
The US National Toxicology Program just published a report from a workshop on the role of environmental chemicals in diabetes and obesity. They concluded that, "Overall, the existing literature was judged to provide plausibility, varying from suggestive to strong, that exposure to environmental chemicals may contribute to the epidemic of diabetes and/or obesity."
See http://tinyurl.com/8a9c8ef for the full report.
It seems clear the cause is a reverse feedback mechanism that resets the "sugar meter" in the hypothalamus.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs sugar intake increases so does insulin production until a point when no matter how much insulin is produced. It doesn't affect the blood sugar to the same degree (higher sugars take more insulin)essentially slowing and decreasing response to blood sugar elevations. With a decrease in response TIME and frequent intake (snacking) blood sugars get stuck at higher levels. And thus the obesity as well.
Any suggestion newer immune serums area candidates for a cause?
Larry Laird
theinfidel@comcast.net
"Brain transcriptome perturbations in theHfemouse model of genetic iron loading"
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006899312002296
That study shows an iron link to lysosomal storage disorders.
Sault (is your first name In? )
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisKinda like safe thalidomide. Isn't a vaccine an environmental hazard? We can tract when the increase started then look at what has changed in the environment with medicines, packaging etc. I'm not an immunization nay-sayer, but I don't think a Snickers bar is the culprit either. I was a candy junkie in the 50's...no DM. But my grandkids actually get nearly a hundred shots/immunizations, in the first 2 years. I got a polio,tetanus as a kid. Little else. Pertussis probably. Didn't have MMR's then.
Conspiracy? OR just looking at the data and speculating.
You are conspiring to see conspiracy.
SO, as you say. Calm down.
When our 8 year old daughter first became hypoglycemic, and we had to rush her to Rady's Children's Hospital,we noticed several tiny red indentations on her abdomen in the exact same location that she had earlier received several flea bites which had cleared up weeks before.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe hospital staff brushed off our concerns but we can't help but wonder why those tiny marks seemed to reappear when they did and were inverted. She has a sister who sleeps right next to her and shares the same diet and every other environmental factor who is perfectly healthy.
I would have to disagree ... my daughter was not vaccinated at all as a baby. She was diagnosed in March 2012 with Type 1 .
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI would like to know if a study has been done with parents who have children with type 1 diabetes, as well as the child, regarding not having been vaccinated. Are there type 1 cases out there that have noted that no vaccination shots have been given. I have worked for a public school, here in the USA. I am a health care aide, and assist children with type 1 diabetes. I can count 9 students that have the disease and are approximately the same age, and most have been diagnosed months from each other. My only source that keeps coming back to me is immunization shots. This is a haunting matter.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI have Type 1 diabetes. I have found that most people contradict themselves when seeing data. You see a spike and assume something strange is going on and perhaps something is but the simplest explanation is the advancements in science. The documentation that someone died from type 1 diabetes or does it say they died from a heart attack? I am 29 years old and wasn't diagnosed until I was 23. The doctor told me I would have had to have it for decades and yet I was walking around and talking even with an A1c of 17+. In fact it was so high and unusual that they slowly brought my blood sugar down. Extremely slowly actually. In 6 months I went from 17+ to 5.7. Now it is higher but I am getting better nutrition. My body had nearly fully adapted on its own to the extreme change in ph levels. The reason why I went into the hospital was because I was concerned about some disorientation I had which included some dizziness. They sent me to the psych unit and branded me insane. After trying to put me on a psych medication that could possibly lower my white blood cell count they did a blood test. That is the only reason they noticed I even had diabetes.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"But some contend that the stress of producing all that extra insulin can burn out the insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas and push a child whose beta cells are already under attack into developing type 1 diabetes. "
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSilly. Then why not call it Last stage Type 2 diabetes, why call it Type 1 diabetes?
The problem with this type of 'conspiracy theorist accusing' is that the people who should know what to do and say about the increase in diabetes, allergies, ASD's, endocrine diseases, OES cancers, intestinal cancers, pancreatic cancers, in fact do NOT know what to do or say. ALL of these maladies are skyrocketing. If you read the New England Journal of Medicine and the Lancet, and actually bear the anguish over having kids with potentially deadly allergies, career destroying asthma, autism and diabetes, then this moralistic Social Skeptic propaganda simply does not hold water.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI regularly test different ideas as to what is the cause of our household maladies. I have no compunction whatsoever to suggesting ideas for science to consider. I have made good headway too.
Just because someone expresses a concern about a potentially deleterious aspect of our food technology or chemical exposures, and wants the science to be conducted around the idea, does not make them a conspiracy theorist. That accusation is tired old shallow thought control, and even worse, this type of condemnation of ethical public activism can be used to protect the very thing/corporate practice which is killing us - and we may never even know.
The fact is that many of these chief suspects now in consideration by science, were first suggested by mom's and people you call conspiracy theorists. They were not suggested by the SSkeptic community that is for sure.
In response to: "wait to see what the people (WHO) actually know what (THEY'RE) doing say about this issue, mkay?"
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHi Sault,
Please don't be so condescending toward other people's suppositions. The medical authorities and scientists do not know everything. If they did none of us who have diabetes (I am type 1 for 32 years) would have it anymore. If you ever truly studied science, you would know that some scientific discoveries have been made by coincidence or "happy accident". Maybe some of these "crazy" ideas might not have true weight, but they might trigger an idea in a scientist or medical professional that could lead to a breakthrough. The key thing in generating "successes" is to be willing to endure many failures and keep trying. Even in the above article, the scientists initially made some mistakes. Do not disparage those who are trying to help. We are all in agreement that it would be good to prevent and cure this disease.
There is also some truth to everyone's thinking. I myself cannot tolerate milk and I have problems with wheat and am very sensitive to pesticides and other toxins. I cannot get the Measles Mumps Rubella immunization. I got one shot and it made me very ill for 3wks with greatly enlarged lymph nodes all up and down my neck and shoulders. There are two shots to the MMR immunization, so I did not get the second one. I had to get it to be admitted to a Master's program in Nursing, and so I could not be admitted since I was not going to take the second shot since the first one had been so bad for me. Strangely enough, my childhood medical records show that I did get the Measles Mumps Rubella vaccination and I even had mumps on one cheek, yet when I have been tested to see if I have formed antibodies to the Measles Mumps Rubella vaccination, I test negative. So I have concluded that for some reason, I cannot form antibodies at all to MMR and that is why it affects me so strongly. I believe it is a genetic inability to form some protein or other.
At any rate, maybe there's a connection between that & type 1 diabetes.
People get so scared about the immunization thing, but what they don't realize is that, there probably are some people for whom immunizations are not safe, (like myself), but most people/children are probably ok to get immunizations & should. Its just a question of knowing who might have some sort of genetic problem that they would need to avoid them. Immunizations are very important for herd immunity and help protect those of us who can't get them.
In response to: "wait to see what the people (WHO) actually know what (THEY'RE) doing say about this issue, mkay?"
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHi Sault,
Please don't be so condescending toward other people's suppositions. The medical authorities and scientists do not know everything. If they did none of us who have diabetes (I am type 1 for 32 years) would have it anymore. If you ever truly studied science, you would know that some scientific discoveries have been made by coincidence or "happy accident". Maybe some of these "crazy" ideas might not have true weight, but they might trigger an idea in a scientist or medical professional that could lead to a breakthrough. The key thing in generating "successes" is to be willing to endure many failures and keep trying. Even in the above article, the scientists initially made some mistakes. Do not disparage those who are trying to help. We are all in agreement that it would be good to prevent and cure this disease.
There is also some truth to everyone's thinking. I myself cannot tolerate milk and I have problems with wheat and am very sensitive to pesticides and other toxins. I cannot get the Measles Mumps Rubella immunization. I got one shot and it made me very ill for 3wks with greatly enlarged lymph nodes all up and down my neck and shoulders. There are two shots to the MMR immunization, so I did not get the second one. I had to get it to be admitted to a Master's program in Nursing, and so I could not be admitted since I was not going to take the second shot since the first one had been so bad for me. Strangely enough, my childhood medical records show that I did get the Measles Mumps Rubella vaccination and I even had mumps on one cheek, yet when I have been tested to see if I have formed antibodies to the Measles Mumps Rubella vaccination, I test negative. So I have concluded that for some reason, I cannot form antibodies at all to MMR and that is why it affects me so strongly. I believe it is a genetic inability to form some protein or other.
At any rate, maybe there's a connection between that & type 1 diabetes.
People get so scared about the immunization thing, but what they don't realize is that, there probably are some people for whom immunizations are not safe, (like myself), but most people/children are probably ok to get immunizations & should. Its just a question of knowing who might have some sort of genetic problem that they would need to avoid them. Immunizations are very important for herd immunity and help protect those of us who can't get them.