Diabetes is a metabolic disorder that relates to how our bodies process and make use of available energy. While there is no concrete answer as to what causes diabetes, ongoing research has identified a number of different risk factors for diabetes. What this means for you is that you can, to some extent, prevent diabetes from developing by doing everything that you can to reduce the risk factors for diabetes in your life. It should also be noted that what causes diabetes is also dependent on what type of diabetes you are referring to.
What Causes Type 1 Diabetes?
Unfortunately, there is less known about the causes of type 1 diabetes than any of the other forms. Type 1 diabetes, also known as juvenile diabetes, manifests itself in childhood or early adulthood, and the exact causes are as yet unknown.
What is known about what causes diabetes of this type is that it is the result of an autoimmune disorder in which the body’s immune system attacks the portion of the pancreas that produces the hormone insulin, which is the hormone responsible for allowing cells to make use of the glucose in the blood. There is suspicion that it may be caused by a combination of genetic factors, potential malnutrition, and viral infections that affect the pancreas.
What Causes Type 2 Diabetes?
Doctors have a much better idea about what causes diabetes type 2 than they do type 1, and many common risk factors are quite well known. This is due to the fact that between 90 and 95% of all diabetes patients are diagnosed as having type 2 diabetes.
In a nutshell, the primary mechanical cause of type 2 diabetes is a condition known as insulin resistance, in which the body can no longer properly use the insulin produced by the pancreas. This cause blood sugar levels to rise, which in turn causes insulin production by the pancreas to rise. In time, the pancreas loses the ability to produce insulin.
So, what causes diabetes type 2? The risk factors for type 2 diabetes include:
Since type 2 diabetes is largely a lifestyle-induced condition, to some extent it can be prevented by making the necessary lifestyle changes in order to reduce some of the various risk factors listed above.
What Causes Gestational Diabetes?
During a normal pregnancy, almost all women suffer from some sort of impaired glucose intolerance. While this does indeed result in elevated blood sugar levels, it tends to not be high enough to actually be classified as diabetes. In some women, however, what were once normal blood sugar levels rise still further in the third trimester and become gestational diabetes.
In order to prevent hypoglycemia in the mother and to ensure that the developing baby receives enough nutrition, the placenta produces additional hormones such as estrogen, cortisol, and human placental lactogen, that interfere with the action of insulin in the body. As the pregnancy continues and the placenta grows, it produces more and more of these hormones. When the pancreas can no longer produce enough insulin to counter the effects of these hormones, you have gestational diabetes.
Risk factors for developing gestational diabetes during your pregnancy include:
It is considered to be gestational diabetes because it tends to resolve itself once the baby is born, however, you are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes later on in life if you have previously had gestational diabetes.
What causes diabetes depends on what kind of diabetes you have. While little is known about how exactly to prevent the development of type 1 diabetes, lifestyle adjustment and hard work can, to a large extent, help you maintain healthy blood sugar levels and prevent gestational diabetes and type 2 diabetes from developing, keeping you in good health. If you have any further questions or suspect that you may either have or be at risk of developing diabetes, be sure to speak with your doctor.
