What are The Causes of Diabetes?

There are some causes of diabetes for each type of this sickness.

Causes of Type 1 Diabetes

Viruses - The insulin is produced in the beta cells in the pancreas.
There are certain viruses that have a great resemblance to the beta cells. When such a virus hits the body, the immune system destroys both the virus and the beta cells immediately because of the resemblance, and the production of the insulin is interrupted.
It's called also "Autoimmune disease" because of the confusion of the immune system which recognizes the beta cells as an enemy.

Stress – This is the one of the silent and invisible causes of diabetes, but believe me, it's there.
When someone is in a time of stress, his body produces hormones which can damage the insulin.
Another related cause is a physical trauma during a traumatic incident or period.
There is evidence of diabetes appearance due to a car accident or after a long and exhausting war.

Nutritional Ingredients – Researchers do believe that certain foods like cow's milk and coffee are responsible to type 1 diabetes.
They have found out that among babies who never were breastfed the appearance of type 1 diabetes was twice as much than babies who were breastfed.

Medications – A person who may suffer from other sickness may take medications. There are several drugs that contain chemicals which simply destroy the beta cells.
One of them, like "Vacor" for example, was withdrawn from the American market.

Pregnancy - Again, similar to the stress condition, during the pregnancy there are hormones being created which damage the insulin. This is gestational diabetes and usually it may disappear after delivery.

Causess of Type 2 Diabetes

Overweight – Obesity is a source for hypertension and high level of cholesterol. This condition is also known as "Metabolic Syndrome" or "Syndrome X".
Statistics indicate that above 80% of type 2 diabetes patients suffer from obesity and overweight.
However, after losing weight, a special diet, and starting in a more active lifestyle, the type 2 diabetic symptoms may simply disappear.

Genetic Disorders – There is a strong relation between inheritable genes and type 2 diabetes.
A person who has a relative (father, mother, brother or sister) who has type 2 diabetes is in higher risk to get type 2 diabetes too.