Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (Juvenile Diabetes Mellitus)

Diabetes Mellitus is one of Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) that have been common to certain stage of life. In this topic, we will focus more of Type 1 and the next article will cover on the Type 2.
Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus normally occur to kids and younger adult. That is why it gets the nickname ‘Juvenile Diabetes Mellitus’. However, it also can develop later in life in late 30s and 40s.

So what is Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus?

Type 1 DM is an auto-immune disease when our body attacks its own Insulin’s factory site in Pancreas. This cause our body to unable produce its own Insulin that is a hormone that required to process sugar in blood. Studies show that genetic and environmental factor such as viral infection might also be the cause.

Several signs and symptoms of Type 1 that we should look at:

 

Type 1 DM can happen to almost everyone in the population, nevertheless, mothers are encouraged to breastfeed their infants at least 6 months. Due to the fact that recent finding shows that there are higher risks for baby who drinks breast milk less than 6 months to develop Type 1 DM.

Farahanani Amhazali
B. Sc. Dietetics, UPM