New research shows a shocking increase in type 1 diabetes following the onset of the COVID epidemic. While this increase appears to have occurred worldwide, Canada has been amongst those hardest hit.
The onset of type 1 diabetes (T1D) occurs mostly in young children.
Unlike type 2, which is more common in adults and is often associated with obesity, the causes of T1D are not well understood.
It is believed that genetics are a factor, and that nutrition and environmental conditions may play a role.
The ailment is triggered when a child’s pancreas fails to produce an adequate supply of insulin.
Symptoms include unusual thirst, blurred vision, recurring infections, and tingling or numbness in the hands and feet.
Insulin injections are the primary treatment, in some cases several times a day, and in most cases, for life.
Without adequate care, serious complications can arise, from heart disease and nerve damage, to lower leg amputations in extreme cases.
For unknown reasons, the incidence of T1D had been increasing by around three to four per cent a year across the globe. That was the experience in Canada, pre-COVID.
But now studies show that in Ontario, the incidence of this ailment in youngsters aged one to 19 increased by 61 per cent per cent between May 2020 and July 2021.
One possible explanation could be that kids were often kept indoors and away from school during the early days of the COVID epidemic. That might have prevented them from catching childhood infectious disorders like measles and chicken pox.
The body’s immune system is galvanized by contact with viruses like these. That might help prevent the onset of T1D.
In one respect it’s not surprising that Canada has been hard hit. We are in the top five countries with the highest rates of diabetes, and B.C. has the highest rate in Canada.
Each year, around 70,000 new cases of T1D are diagnosed, countrywide. In B.C. the number is around 10,000.
It’s not at all clear why Canada, and within the country, B.C., have such high levels of T1D. Finland and Sweden lead the world, surprising given their advanced economies and affluent populations.
Kuwait and Qatar are number three and four. Yet these two countries are at the opposite end of the socio-economic scale. It would be difficult to find two countries as different from one another as Finland and Qatar.
This merely emphasizes how little we know about the origins of this ailment. The question is what if anything can be done to prevent it.
It has been shown that giving young children vitamin D supplements might be effective. In one study, the onset of T1D was reduced by 29 per cent in kids given this supplement.
It’s been proposed that Canada should undertake a nationwide study of this treatment, given our high rates of diabetes.
There is some evidence that among babies who are breast-fed, the incidence of T1D might be reduced.
There could also be some benefit in delaying the introduction of solid food containing gluten for the first six to 12 months of the baby’s life. But this is unclear.
Lastly, there is some evidence that giving children a form of vitamin B3 might reduce the risk of T1D.
What these various studies show, unfortunately, is that we do not really understand the mechanisms that give rise to this disease.
Here would be a good research project for the University of B.C., or Vancouver’s Michael Smith Foundation. For if we are condemned to be a world leader in our rates of T1D, we should aim to be a leader in finding an effective means of prevention.
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