
Can Type 2 Diabetes Change to Type 1 Diabetes?
Although diabetes is common, many people who have been diagnosed do not completely understand how it develops or whether it is hereditary. Additionally, the fact that diabetes is broken down into two types creates more confusion for people.
However, it is important to realize that type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes have many major differences, and one type cannot lead to the other.
How Does Type 1 Diabetes Develop?
Type 1 and type 2 diabetes have different causes. Type 1 diabetes is usually diagnosed in children and young adults. A person must inherit a predisposition to the disease, and something in his or her environment will trigger it, such as a virus. In most cases, people inherit risk factors from both parents. Only 5 percent of people with diabetes have this form of the disease.
Type 1 diabetes develops when antibodies destroy the cells in the pancreas that produce and secrete insulin. Usually the body produces these antibodies to defend itself from foreign bodies, but sometimes these same antibodies turn on a person's own body. In the case of type 1 diabetes, the antibodies target the pancreatic cells, resulting in a lack of insulin production in the pancreas. This lack of insulin production is one of the main differences between type 1 and type 2 diabetes. These antibodies can usually be identified through blood tests . Individuals who have this type of diabetes require insulin therapy.
How Does Type 2 Diabetes Develop?
Type 2 diabetes is the more common type of diabetes. Research shows that 90 percent of diabetics have type 2 diabetes. Adults who develop diabetes
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