What Are Some Things That Are Still Unknown About Diabetes?
Posted in Definition on 24. Feb, 2010
For instance, we still don’t know the exact cause of type 1 diabetes; is there anything else you can think of?
4 Responses to “What Are Some Things That Are Still Unknown About Diabetes?”
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
Leave a Reply
I’m of the opinion that the most important thing unknown about diabetes is that we still don’t have a clue as to why excess glucose/sugar causes damage to body systems and organs.
I think the exact causes of all types of diabetes are the biggest mystery surrounding the disease.
We know that Type 1 diabetes occurs as the result of an auto-immune attack where the body’s immune system attacks and destroys the insulin producing beta cells of the pancreas. This then means that the pancreas can no longer produce insulin, blood sugar levels rise and type 1 diabetes is the result. However, we do not know what triggers this auto-immune response. People have suggested it could be food, infection or even faulty nerves in the pancreas but no one is sure.
For Type 2 diabetes we know that it develops when the body’s cells become resistant to insulin. This then stimulates the pancreas to produce extra insulin and the liver to release extra glucose into the blood, eventually leading to the development of Type 2 diabetes. However, we do not know why these cells become resistant in the first place although age, ethnicity, family, inactivity and obesity are all strong risk factors.
The exact cause of ANY diabetes is unknown.
What is well know are the “contributing factors”:
–>Heredity
–>Weight
–>Exercise
–>Diet
–>Race
None of these CAUSE diabetes, but ALL of them play an important role.
Some scientists think that diabetes is an autoimmune disease. That is, your body is trying to get rid of its own parts. In the case of the pancreas, it is thought that the pancreas is trying to “digest” itself.
As for a cure, there isn’t one. But there has been some new research showing that Adult Stem Cells can be used in mice to cure diabetes. it is a long way from mice to men, but there is some hope that Adult Stem Cells might provide a cure in 20-30 years.
The guaranteed cure of diabetes