If only researchers could find out what causes diabetes in children to be diagnosed with increasing frequency every year, we might not only have better ideas about what causes diabetes in children, but also an insight into more of the risk factors that are causing diabetes to rise every year at for all age groups.
Since the 1950’s, something is causing more children under the age of 15 to be diagnosed with type 1 diabetes every year. This disturbing trend is worldwide. And as in adults, the incidence of type 2 diabetes is rising in children as well. It seems this was almost unheard of in the middle of the last century. And if we don’t figure out what causes diabetes in children to keep rising, imagine the consequences both in terms of overall health, but in the rising cost of caring for more diabetes care in more people for longer periods of time. In the United States alone, the medical cost of diabetes care in terms of health care and lost time at work is approaching 15 billion dollars a year. Something is happening to make the rates rise and the condition to appear at earlier ages. And there is a good chance that the factors are similar for the rise in both types of diabetes in all age groups. So figuring out what causes diabetes in children could unlock a new door of discovery to explore.
Environmental Factors Believed To Be a Big Part of What Causes Diabetes in Children
Let’s take a look at a lesser known hypothesis about what causes diabetes in children, and why it is on the rise.
Vitamin D deficiency is known to have protective properties against type 1 diabetes. Our skin absorbs sunlight and produces vitamin D. About 90% of the vitamin D in our bodies is accounted for by sunlight exposure, with the remainder being derived from dietary intake and supplements. It may play a large role in what causes diabetes in children to rise annually, as we are being exposed to the sun less and less as our societies “evolve”.
One study in Europe measured the vitamin D levels in mothers during their pregnancy and found that the babies delivered by mothers with the lowest levels of vitamin D during pregnancy had twice the risk of type 1 diabetes before reaching age 15 than those delivered by the mothers with the highest levels.
Another large and impressive study that was conducted over 30 years in the northern Finland. It is notable because that area of Finland has short periods of sunlight every day due to its proximity to the North Pole. In December, only 2 hours of sunlight are available daily. The study (Hypponen et al. (2001) found that supplementing the diet with vitamin D in the first year of a child’s life reduced the risk of type 1 diabetes by about 80%. That is a significant number, and even more interesting was that the dosage didn’t matter. It was the regularity and consistency of the supplementation that was important. It seems like too big of a difference to rule out vitamin D as at least part of what causes diabetes in children. And it could play an important role in adult diabetes as well, but more research is needed.
How common is metabolic syndrome?
The chances of developing 3 or more of the metabolic syndrome risk factors increase with age, and it’s estimated that about 22% of all adults in the U.S. have metabolic syndrome. People over the age of 60 have metabolic syndrome at a rate around 60%.
Black women are more likely to have three or more of the metabolic syndrome risk factors than black men (57% more likely) and Caucasian men and women have metabolic syndrome at the same rate.
