• Question: why is diabetes growing in the uk? # type 1

    Asked by masiscool01 to Ben, Dave, Ed, Sam, Susana on 20 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: David Briggs

      David Briggs answered on 20 Jun 2013:

      We don’t know for sure why Type 1 diabetes is getting more common, but current ideas are:

      (1) our diets contain too much sugar,
      (2) too little sunlight,
      (3) children do breast feed as long as they used to,
      (4) some sort of pollution.

      Personally, I think it is most likely to be (1) and/or (3).

    • Photo: Susana Teixeira

      Susana Teixeira answered on 20 Jun 2013:

      Yes, like Ben said bad diet can promote it. Not doing enough physical activity, keeping a sedentary life is also not good. Even systematically not sleeping enough hours can favor diabetes.

      A range of factors can play a role and unfortunately they tend to be more and more common in the UK lately.

    • Photo: Sam Horrell

      Sam Horrell answered on 21 Jun 2013:

      I think what Dave has said about poor diet and and such explain more the increase in type 2 diabetes.

      A theory put forward by the American Diabetes association is that we are now better at treating type 1 diabetes. At the start of the 20th century it was relatively rare and rapidly fatal. We can treat it now but not cure it so it so there are more people with type 1 diabetes but it doesn’t affect their quality of life so much.

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