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Permalink Reply by Paul on May 31, 2011 at 12:31am

I certainly do not know the answer but the research I have read concurs with the theory of a genetic disposition and an environmental trigger for type 1. In reading these posts I notice mention of coeliacs (sorry the US version is Celiacs) disease which is an autoimmune disorder which triggers an immune response and the epithelial cells in the gut get destroyed by the immune system when a person with celiacs eats a protein called gluten - found in wheat, barley and rye. Whilst around 1% of people have Celiacs disease the number of people who have both celiacs disease and type 1 diabetes is higher than random sampling can account for and there is some thinking that the two may be linked.....

Celiacs may in fact be the trigger we are all looking for from my laymans perspective, it causes an immune attack on the gut and leads to malabsorbtion of foods, which could support the lack of vitamin D theories. Could it be that for those of us unlucky enough to have the genetic predisposition to T1 that celiacs with the whole host of symptoms and issues that it brings about, including malabsorbtion and sloughing of cells in the intestine that some of these immune responses get targetted against the islets of Langerhans Beta Cells? I am not suggesting that we all have Celiacs disease but but has anybody actually performed this study? Are the 2 inextricably linked? Just a thought.... ...of course this may be a case of 2 + 2 = 5!

On another note it is easy to start thinking that a disease or disorder is genetic by looking at geneology but do not forget that families often live in communities with common environmental factors, for example pollution, nutrition, stress etc etc etc. How do you tell if the cause is genetic, environmental or a combination of the 2?

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