Because of the unexplained increase in rates of type 1 diabetes, hypotheses have been proposed to try to explain it. Most researchers believe that some of the risk factors are inherited, and some are environmental. If inherited, the exponential rise in the disease couldn’t be explained by heredity alone. If this were true, the rise should be proportional to the increase in populations the disease might be inherited from. But it is rising much faster than that. Most people favor an environmentally related diabetes hypothesis, which seems to make more sense, even if not proven.

The Accelerator Diabetes Hypothesis

Researchers at the Postgraduate Medical School, at Derriford Hospital, Plymouth, UK, think that weight gain is the main factor increasing the rates of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. This diabetes hypothesis proposes that weight gain causes insulin resistance, and the high glucose levels that are caused by …