Diabetes Type 1 Support Group

The most important forms of diabetes are due to decreases in or the complete absence of the production of insulin (type 1 diabetes), or decreased sensitivity of body tissues to insulin (type 2 diabetes). The most valid laboratory test to distinguish Type 1 from Type 2 diabetes is the C-peptide test, which detects the amount of insulin being produced in the body. Lack of insulin resistance, determined by a glucose tolerance test, would also be suggestive of Type 1.

Type I diabetes is an autoimmune disorder, in which the body's own immune system attacks the beta cells in the Islets of Langerhans of the pancreas, destroying them or damaging them sufficiently to reduce or eliminate insulin production. The autoimmune attack may be triggered by reaction to an infection, for example by one of the viruses of the Coxsackie virus family.

Some researchers believe that the autoimmune response is influenced by antibodies against cow's milk proteins. A large restrospective case controlled study published in 2006 found that infants who were never breast fed had twice the risk for developing Type 1 diabetes as infants who were breast fed for at least 3 months. The mechanism, if any, is not understood. [2] Research has not been able to establish a connection between autoantibodies, antibodies to cow's milk proteins, and Type 1 diabetes.

A subtype of type 1 (identifiable by the presence of antibodies against beta cells) develops slowly and so is often confused with Type 2. In addition, a small proportion of type 1 cases have the hereditary condition maturity onset diabetes of the young (MODY) which can also be confused with Type 1.

Vitamin D in doses of 2000 IU per day given during the first year of child's life has been connected in one study in Northern Finland (where the intrinsic production of Vitamin D is low) with a reduction in the risk of getting type I diabetes later in life (by 80%). Vitamin D3 may be an important pathogenic factor in type 1 diabetes independent of geographical latitude.

Some chemicals and drugs specifically target the pancreas. Vacor (N-3-pyridylmethyl-N'-p-nitrophenyl urea), a rodenticide introduced in the United States in 1975, selectively destroys panacreatic beta cells, resulting in Type 1 diabetes after accidental or intentional ingestion. Vacor was withdrawn from the U.S. market in 1979. Zanosar is the trade name for streptozotocin, an antibiotic and antineoplastic agent used in chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer, that kills beta cells, resulting in loss of insulin production.

Other pancreatic problems including trauma, pancreatitis or tumors (either malignant or benign) can also lead to loss of insulin production.