Can Type 1 Diabetes Be Prevented?
Type 1 diabetes can’t be prevented. Doctors can’t even tell who will get it and who won’t. No one knows for sure what causes type 1 diabetes, but scientists think it has something to do with genes. But just getting the genes for diabetes isn’t usually enough. In most cases, a child has to be exposed to something else – like a virus – for him or her to get type 1 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes isn’t contagious, so kids and teens can’t catch it from another person or pass it along to friends or family members. And eating too much sugar doesn’t cause type 1 diabetes, either. Although type 1 diabetes can’t be prevented, some research suggests that breastfeeding, avoiding early introduction of solid foods, and other factors may play a role in lowering the risk of developing the disease. Though there’s no reliable way to predict who will get type 1 diabetes, blood tests can detect early signs of it. These blood tests aren’t done routinely, however, because doctors don’t have any way to stop a chi
