Environmental factors implicated...Environmental factors before or shortly after
birth could be responsible for the dramatic increase in childhood diabetes in
Europe and other parts of the world. During the past 20-30 years the number of
children under the age of five needing insulin to control their diabetes has
risen sharply.
A change in the population gene pool due to
the improved survival of people with the disease could be one reason, but
doctors think a change in environment is more likely. "A number of
environmental influences encountered early in life could be relevant", Dr Edwin
Gale of the University of Bristol in southwestern England said in the medical
journal, Lancet.
Infections of German measles and other
viruses in pregnant women could affect the development of diabetes in their
babies and early exposure to cow milk products could be another cause. Gale, who
conducted a study of diabetic children in Oxford between 1985 and 1995, said
changes in patterns in childhood immunizations could be another reason, but it
has not been proven yet.
In his study of 1,037 diabetic children under
the age of 15, Gale found an annual increase of 4 percent, but in younger
children under five the rate soared to 11 percent.
"At present the best hope of reversing this
trend would seem to lie in identifying and eliminating environmental trigger
factors or, failing this, in strategies of inducing tolerance or vaccination
targeted at the neo-natal population", he added.
