Could Too Few Bacteria Cause Type 1 Diabetes?

By Sean Kelley

Researchers looking for the cause of type 2 diabetes—the one that afflicts 90% of diabetics—generally focus on what people put into their stomachs. Too much food and too many unhealthy carbohydrates are some of the root causes of the disease.

Now researchers looking into the cause of type 1 diabetes are focusing on what people haven’t put into their gut.

In type 1 diabetes, the body’s own immune system attacks the pancreas, causing it to either produce too little insulin or none at all. But no one really knows why the immune system does this; theories range from viruses to genetics. Read More