Studies have shown a rapid increase in new cases of type 1 diabetes worldwide. However, scientists and researchers have struggled to identify a direct cause. Many have questioned if changes in the environment or lifestyle have impacted the disease. In a newly released review paper published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, faculty from the Colorado School of Public Health at the Anschutz Medical Campus examined whether any environmental exposures can explain why type 1 diabetes is on the rise.
“The incidence of type 1 diabetes has increased 3 percent per year over the past three decades. This increase is too rapid to be due to genetic factors, suggesting that environmental factors may play a role,” said Jill Norris, MPH, PhD, professor and chair of epidemiology at the Colorado School of Public Health and lead author of the paper.
Identifying environmental factors associated with type 1 diabetes that influence its incidence can inform future preventive trials and searches for other environmental risk factors. In this paper, researchers reviewed the literature on environmental factors like air pollution, diet, childhood obesity, the duration of breastfeeding, the introduction of cow’s milk, infections, and many others that showcase an impact on type 1 diabetes.
The researchers then looked at prevalence of an exposure over time while varying its annual increase under simulated scenarios. Using the simulated data, the research showed that if a single factor were to explain the changes in the incidence of type 1 diabetes over the past few decades, it would have to be very strongly associated with the risk of type 1 diabetes.
Read more at University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
Photo Credit: TesaPhotography via Pixabay