Type 1 diabetes causes?

the juvenile diabetes association claims it is caused by a virus that attacks the pancreas that kills the beta cells. They say it is not genetic but the weakness for it 'may' be. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

this website discuses all theories....very informative...
energywave.com/what-ails-you/diabetes/...

Causes

In type 1 diabetes, the body has little or no insulin because the immune system 鈥?which normally fights harmful bacteria or viruses 鈥?has attacked and destroyed the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, a gland located just behind the stomach. Similar immune system attacks on different body tissues occur in a number of other diseases, which are known as autoimmune diseases. Such diseases include multiple sclerosis, in which the immune system attacks the substance that coats nerve fibers, and rheumatoid arthritis, in which the immune system attacks the linings of the joints.

Researchers believe that factors such as genetics, diet and exposure to certain viruses all may be involved in triggering different autoimmune diseases, including type 1 diabetes. Because type 1 diabetes typically appears in the wake of an infection, the immune attack on insulin-producing cells may be a consequence of the immune system's reaction to the earlier infection.

Lack of insulin results in diabetes because of the vital role insulin plays in making glucose 鈥?the body's fuel 鈥?available to cells. During digestion, your body transforms the carbohydrates from such foods as bread, fruits and milk products into different types of sugar molecules. One of these sugar molecules is glucose, the main energy source for your body. Glucose is absorbed directly into your bloodstream after you eat, but it can't enter your cells without the help of insulin.

Normally, your pancreas produces insulin continuously, raising its output in response to the increase in blood sugar that occurs after you eat. This extra insulin "unlocks" your cells so that more sugar can enter, providing your body with energy as well as maintaining a normal level of sugar in your blood.

Your liver also plays a key role in maintaining a normal blood sugar level. If you have more glucose than your cells need for energy, your body can remove the excess glucose from your bloodstream and store it in your liver as glycogen 鈥?a form of stored glucose. Then, when you run low on glucose 鈥?if you haven't eaten for a while, say 鈥?your body can tap into the stored glucose and release it into your bloodstream.

When your pancreas functions normally, your blood glucose fluctuates in response to exercise, stress, infections, food and a variety of other factors. But your hormonal system 鈥?including but not limited to the insulin-producing pancreas 鈥?continuously makes complex adjustments that keep your blood sugar levels within set limits.

type one IS genetic... juvi diabetes is very very genetic... it runs in a family... as does adult onset..type 2... but you have a chancen tno fight it off if your type 2... I just became type 2 at the ripe young age of 24... =( I had a bad attack 2 days ago.. IT hoguht I was going to die.. neve rhad a bad attack like that before.. my sugar was way to high.. I was crying because I didn't knwo what was going on..I was in a class at the time and excused myself out of the room...

It is known as juvenile diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is a chronic (lifelong) disease that occurs when the pancreas produces too little insulin to regulate blood sugar levels appropriately. The beta cells of the pancreas produce little or no insulin. The cause of Type 1 Diabetes is unknown, although childhood infections and a genetic tendency are two possibilities.

Directly from the JDF website....

" Both genetics and environmental 鈥渢riggers鈥?are being studied as potential causes of type 1 diabetes."

Research shows that only 15% have a first degree relative. Other reports suggest that a father with type 1 is more likely to have children who develop it than those whose mothers have it, and the older she is when having children the lower the chance becomes (as low as 1%). Even still, there's still only a 6-7% chance that the children of the father will develop it. It's thought that mothers might pass on some type of protection from a virus that would cause it, which would support the virus theory. Most researchers believe that first a person needs to have the predisposition, like the gene, to develop type 1 and then there needs to be a trigger, as in a virus. Some people will have many people in their families that have it while others will have no one. What is clear in most type 1's is that it is an autoimmune response, where the body's immune system is destroying healthy beta cells. If researchers could figure out how to stop this response they would cure type 1 diabetes.

All answers here are great. THERE IS a genetic disposition to develop Type 1. You must have the genes to get it (autoimmune Type 1 anyway). Then, something(s) in the environment *triggers* it in someone who is genetically at risk. We have not pinpointed that exactly what that trigger is or what the triggers are, although we think a virus and/or dietary proteins like gluten/casein may play a role.

It also appears as though some people have a higher genetic disposition to develop it. You see this when you have families with multiple generations of Type 1, sometimes called familial Type 1 diabetes.

Recent research has shown that certain genetic mutations in the AIRE gene makes someone have an 85% chance of developing Type 1 by age 20.

Genetics DO play a large role, especially in some cases.

There are some people who have "atypical" forms of Type 1, which may come from a direct viral attack on their pancreas (not like autoimmune Type 1, in which the body attacks it own cells in response to a trigger).

We don't know enough about all the genetics involved in Type 1 (possibly different gene mutations in different people) to really say anything for certain.

ok, so it doesn't HAVE to be genetic! No one in my entire family has it or has a history of it. I am the first one. My doctor thinks that I could of had a reaction to the hep. b shot, but none the less mine is def. not from genetics. I don't have all of the antibodies that make up diabetes but ya I have it anyways. So no one can give a generalization and say that it is from genetics.

Sweetheart is absolutely right! I had never had problems with any blood level readings for 21 years. About a year after I took the hepatitis B vaccine, I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. It does not run in my family. However, that's not to say that everyone diagnosed with type 1 got it from a vaccine, but some scientists have found an increase in type 1 diabetes in children who take vaccines like the MMR vaccine and the hep B vaccine.

Before anyone flies off the handle, I'm not saying to not vaccinate. I am saying however that vaccines are not without risk.