Causes of Diabetes - Info you need

The real causes of diabetes  are not very clear. There exist different causes for different types of diabetes. You can get the required info in the following paragraphs. 

Causes of Type 1 diabetes 


In type 1 diabetes, the most probable causes of diabetes are due to a viral infection, towards which our body gives an immune response. During this immune response, the beta cells of pancreas, which produces the insulin, are being destroyed. And, in this way, your pancreas is not able anymore to produce insulin. As a result, there is a lack of insulin production, also known as type 1 diabetes.


Causes of Type 2 diabetes


In type 2 diabetes, there are two major categories of possible causes:

  1. In the first category, there are included those causes that you cannot control. They're called hereditary (genetic) factors.
  2. In the second category, there are included causes that you can control. They're called environmentally factors.


Primary type 2 diabetes causes of that you “cannot control”


These causes are called “not controllable” , because you cannot do much to eliminate them. But, what you can do, is to prevent their effect on your body. The main causes that you cannot control are:

  • Family history
  • Age
  • Belonging to a high-risk population    (African-American, Native American, Hispanic, or Native Hawaiian)

So, if your parents, nearly relatives, brother, sister, grandparents, do have type 2 diabetes, you and your children may be probably at risk of having it too.

During the passing of time, as our body's cells function and vitality decreases, the same thing happens even for the insulin producing cells. So this explains why type 2 diabetes is often appeared in people >60 years old, 10-15%.

It is true, that in our days, more younger people under 60-es,3-5% , have type 2 diabetes. Probably, this might happen because of many “controllable factors” toward which they don't pay attention and abuse.


Secondary type 2 diabetes causes of that you can “control”


These causes, actually, are also referred as risk factors, which, with some afford, you can avoid  their effect on your body. As a result, you can have a reduced chance for getting diabetes and you might live much more healthier. Here you can learn about some secondary type 2 diabetes causes of.

  1. Weight - If you have more than 20% above your ideal body weight, it probably increases your blood sugar levels.

So, if you are overweight, and also have type 2 diabetes, lowering weight may help you to beat diabetes due to decrease of the insulin resistance.

Due to the high blood sugar levels, there can be different severe complications, such as heart disease. Also being overweight or obese person, lead you to an unhealthy life.

So, just few minutes simple exercises every day, can help you put away some excessed weigh and lower your high blood sugar level.

  1.  Diet - Diet seems to be the most important type 2 diabetes cause . Many statistics show that consuming big amounts of sugary foods, and fatty foods, increases the probability to have diabetes. 

There are many internal sources of sugar, i.e. Our body produces itself sugar from sugar deposits. But external sugar intake helps our body to work properly. So, it is necessary to have a balance of what we eat and what our body produces itself.

Foods to take without fear are fruits, vegetables, natural yogurt. Limit as much as you can cookies, cakes, sugary fruits and juices. More original, more healthier, and this helps you to know more info on the causes of diabetes.

Alcohol Drinking alcohol, especially drinking too much, leads to liver and heart muscle injuries. This lead to high blood pressure, increases blood sugar levels and blood fat levels. But alcoholism destroys pancreatic cells and lead to diabetes.

  1. Although, drinking small amounts of alcohol, lead to increased levels of HDL cholesterol, if you make the balance of goods and bads of it, you can have more bad result than good.
  2. Malnutrition - Malnutrition is a type of stress on the body. This will lead to bad function of body cells, even the pancreatic and liver cells, amongst them. This causes diabetes.
  3.  Smoking - If you smoke, and have type 2 diabetes, you have more probability to have high blood pressure, heart disease and earlier and severer diabetes complications. 
  4.  Stress - Stress effects directly diabetes. During stress, many glucose-mobilization hormones are released. In this way glucose ( sugar) is transported into the blood-stream.

This leads to increased blood sugar levels and diabetes. Some simple stress-reduction techniques and mood optimization techniques help you keeping away from diabetes.

We have talked and discussed alot of info regarding the causes of diabetes. There is not much we can do to change primary causes of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes  because it's not upon us.

But we can do a lot on type 2 secondary diabetes causes, starting from smoking cessation, stop drinking alcohol, losing weight wiith some simple daily exercises.

Just take in consideration all these info regarding the causes of diabetes. You will need a strong determination and well self-training will to have a healthy lifestyle. I know we are humans, and this is difficult for us, even if we know all these info of diabetes causes.

Take care. 


Written by Dr.Albana Greca Sejdini, Md, MMedSc       

Medically reviewed by Dr.Ruden Cakoni, MD, Endocrinologist

Last reviewed 01/24/2021

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