Diabetes onset: nature vs nurture Catherine Hanrahan looks at
some of the possible environmental factors associated with
diabetes. Could they hold the key to prevention? TWENTY-FIRST
century children live in spotlessly clean houses with carefully
controlled exposure to the sun. They spend little time outside,
and lots of time watching TV and using computers. Eating fatty
and sugary foods is the daily norm. This lifestyle characterises
what researchers call the "modern diabetogenic environment". But
while it’s accepted that junk food and little exercise
contribute to rocketing rates of type 2 diabetes, other
environmental factors may also be involved. And the further
researchers delve into how environmental factors cause diabetes,
the more it becomes clear that type 1 diabetes is not just
unavoidably a result of an individual’s genes. The incidence of
type 1 diabetes has been rising over the past four decades in
Australia. It doubled from 11.3 per 100,000 person years in 1985
to 23.2 per 100,000 in 2002. 1 But