Cause of Diabetes

Ah, the eternal question - what causes diabetes?
I am not sure the scientists fully understand. They know there are some things which may make you more likely to get diabetes but that is not the same as a cause.

I wonder why you are asking.
Now I have diabetes, I see no value for me to work out why but to focus on doing the best I can knowing I have this condition.
However, it would be brilliant if we could reduce diabetes before it happens to others with something like a vaccination.
When I was first diagnosed, I was involved in a research study. I think newly diagnosed type 1s are useful because our insulin producing cells are still in the process of being killed off so the scientists can search for what is making this happen.
I do not know if there is an equivalent time period for type 2.

"I think newly diagnosed type 1s are useful because our insulin producing cells are still in the process of being killed off so the scientists can search for what is making this happen".

I still produced insulin for 18 years after diagnosed,that said I did keep rigidly to the regime
What causes it? Most of the old Blues Musicians had diabetes there is a North American Indian Tribe that has about 99% with diabetes, That would imply it is generic........One the other hand I was told that it was viral??

I think for 80 out of 100 (eighty twenty rule), the cause of Type 2 diabetes is insulin resistance. For me the imbalance of carbs / sugars and vegetable oils over a number of years, overwhelms the pancreas with too much work to do, which in turn keeps insulin too high, causing resistance and fatty liver. There is a stark contrast to pre-1980 eating guidelines and for example in the UK 1970's consumption of what used to be called "meat and two veg". Back then meals were 2 to 3 a day, lower GI load, more local and home made predominantly.

There are several graphs that show correlation almost down to the month in the rise of several metabolic conditions when low fat, grains and sugary higher carbs achieved the industry backed upper hand over higher fat regimes. Whilst correlation does not show causation (yawn) again there are so many variables that are the same for differing societies which adopted the SAD diet.

For me this is clear cut Occam's razor territory. We know what changed from 1977, we know that sugars increased the most, we know sugar creates fat (obesity coincides 80% of the time), we know sugar rots teeth, we know carbs raise blood sugar. I feel there are so many singing canaries in favour of sugar being the main culprit (by sugar am interchanging carbohydrates which are higher GI).

I am firmly with Gary Taubes et al - sugar / carbs and vegetable oil and the so called foods made out of this combination are my assessment for the majority of cases, others have a different opinion, but due to the almost uniform nature of around 10% diabetes rates across societies, meats, old time oils / fats declined over the same time period metabolic explosions have taken place.

I'm not sure this is what you mean but my father has diabetes. Also a few years ago I spat into a tube and had my genetics analyzed at 23andMe. Apparently my genes indicate I had a higher-than-average risk of developing diabetes.

The glib but vague answer is that diabetes is caused by a mixture of nature and nurture. Nature being the genetic component and nurture the environmental factors like diet, viral infections etc. And then we have so many types of diabetes.
Of course there have been strides taken in finding out how our bodies respond to ingested carbohydrate, what happens to islet cells and in finding ways to control blood sugars.
It is just that our bodies are so complex, insulin influences so many other things and vica-versa.
Does asking why help? I recall a cartoon which shows a guy sitting in an office with Geneology Services written on the door. He is saying: " I just wish to find out who to blame"! But we have no say in who are ancestors were.
Nor could we always know what eating certain foods would do. Or that in this or that season, a viral infection might trigger off a 'campaign against the islet cells'.
Yes, if knowledge could help prevent diabetes occurring, that is great. But how easy is that?
We were told years ago that a vaccine would be developed against the viruses that were thought to trigger diabetes (Type 1) ? Where is that vaccine?
Islet transplants are being done. But at what expense? Mostly treatments for the rich - yes, in the "Land of the Free". But taking anti-rejection drugs with their potential side-effects does not sound like fun. I do not wish to belittle progress, just to show that it is incremental, complicated and slow.
But diet and weight loss - less complicated treatments - have had great results in many diabetics.
We miss the obvious if we get too caught up in the complexity.
And who really is to blame? Big Food has a lot to answer for, advertising also and yes, as humans we are part of this equation.

Uncle Tony said:

Hi, I have read that diabetes is caused by an endocrine defect, is this true? If so would it not be possible to identify the offending endocrine. I was never overweight and always kept fit so not sure why I became a Type 2 diabetic. Pancreas problems seem a likely source but how do you get tested for them? I've only ever had a blood test for HbA1c, serums and liver function. Are there any other tests that might narrow the problem down?

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Out of interest was your liver enzymes high?

Some find slim bodied but fatty liver etc. if not a type1.
I feel the liver plays a huge part

I’ve been on a mixture of psychiatric medication for 10 years and when researching found that all of them cause weight gain ( i’ve put on 6 stone) and 3 of them state diabetes as a side effect. I was diagnosed in April 2018 and was immediately put on insulin. I certainly blame these medications and have consequently stopped taking them. My bg levels have come right down since I stopped but my mental health isn’t doing so well. Thanks x

Elaine p said:

I’ve been on a mixture of psychiatric medication for 10 years and when researching found that all of them cause weight gain ( i’ve put on 6 stone) and 3 of them state diabetes as a side effect. I was diagnosed in April 2018 and was immediately put on insulin. I certainly blame these medications and have consequently stopped taking them. My bg levels have come right down since I stopped but my mental health isn’t doing so well. Thanks x

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Most tablets get processed by the liver. Do you see why I'm concerned for liver detox to be done regularly and of course the low carb diet is great for the liver.

In my case what has caused my diabetes is high dose prednisolone for an extended period, If I where to stop taking preds there is a chance that the diabetes would go away but as there is very little chance of me being able to discontinue the preds I will probably never know.

There are several of us here in the same boat.

JohnEGreen said:

In my case what has caused my diabetes is high dose prednisolone for an extended period, If I where to stop taking preds there is a chance that the diabetes would go away but as there is very little chance of me being able to discontinue the preds I will probably never know.

There are several of us here in the same boat.

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Do you know why that med (steroid) causes diabetes? Is the hormone disturbing the natural path of insulin and glucose balance? Or again is the medication overloading the liver and so the liver cannot keep a happy equilibrium?

To be honest I am not sure but I do know that prednisolone interferes with the livers sensitivity to insulin produced by the pancreas preds desensitize the liver to it so the liver keeps pushing out sugar when it shouldn't from what I have read this is one of the mechanisms by which preds push up BG levels

They also gave me cushings like symptoms as well and they can also drive up weight gain.

Edit to add the effect can be unstable also and at times the livers sensitivity can snap back to normal for short periods and thats when you can get extreme lows .

The effect is the same for injected insulin as well so T1's and T2's on insulin should be careful of prednisolone also.

Uncle Tony said:

Hi, I have read that diabetes is caused by an endocrine defect, is this true? If so would it not be possible to identify the offending endocrine. I was never overweight and always kept fit so not sure why I became a Type 2 diabetic. Pancreas problems seem a likely source but how do you get tested for them? I've only ever had a blood test for HbA1c, serums and liver function. Are there any other tests that might narrow the problem down?

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Are your liver function test results normal? If not, you might be interested in the discussion I started in the Type 1 Diabetes section on Hereditary Haemochromatosis (iron overload) as a cause of diabetes, and action to be taken.