"People who attend college may be at greater risk of developing a less common form of diabetes associated with autoimmunity, new study findings suggest."
What do you make of this? What do you think about the 1 commenter who speculates on a vaccine link? How many of us are in this "more educated" group? Would the findings be different in the U.S.?
There are so many directions to go in as far as speculation, so I thought I'd take it to you all. Please share your ideas. I'm really interested.
The immune system is a stronghold. Without challenges it will get very sensitive to even small changes. This is the root of most autoimmune conditions. So to me the speculation in the article “exposure to infections in early life” seems very likely. We should expose our children more to these challenges. Furthermore it seems that the interaction with animals plays a major role. It is know that children who are exposed to animals have less autoimmune problems. Animals will have very different types of bacteria living in symbiosis with them. The exposure to these bacterias could act as a learning ground for our immune system to improve the friend or foe recognition.
I think that correlation does not equal causation.
People with more education are more likely to CHALLENGE their misdiagnosis of T2 and get an appropriate diagnosis of LADA. They are more likely to be able to afford private health insurance and doctors who will pay for GAD and other kinds of testing. I can think of lots of other reasons for the correlation that have nothing to do with causation.
One of the researchers mentioned in this article, Dr. Olov Rolandsson, is a top-notch researcher. He says the link is “mysterious.” I totally agree with Frances: I believe that it is the people with higher education that question a (mis)diagnosis when they don’t fit the typical profile of a Type 2, when in fact they have adult-onset Type 1/LADA. Even today, few will dare to question a medical doctor’s diagnosis.
Stress could be a reason, weakening our immune system?