Causes of Diabetes in Children

Diabetes in children may be due to a number of reasons, here are a few common ones:

• Family history and Role-played by Heredity

Diabetes in children occurs due to genetic factors and so heredity plays an important role. Certain viruses combine with inherited susceptibility and develop diabetes. Children can develop diabetes after mumps in occasional cases. Diabetes mellitus in children maybe associated with environmental factors also.

Children with increased growth rates in their first three years are also at a greater risk of developing diabetes. These children usually have a tendency of becoming over-weight in their first year than other children.

• Food Allergy

Food allergy also causes diabetes in children. In genetically prone children, drinking cow’s milk during infancy may cause type-1 diabetes in later life. If infants are kept away from dairy products during the first year it may save many of them from diabetes. Certain proteins in cow’s milk provide antigen that forces the immune system to attack its own tissues. So the secretion of insulin by beta cells in the pancreas is affected. Thereby if there is a diabetic history in the family avoid cow’s milk.

Breast Feeding Protects Infants

Infants who are breastfed and kept away from cow’s milk for long periods are less likely to develop diabetes. Research has proved that infants who are exclusively breastfed during first three months have forty percent reduced chances of developing diabetes by around fourteen years of age. Chances of developing diabetes can be reduced further by avoiding cow’s milk for longer periods.

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