I know that Diabetes Rising says that Type 1 is increasing worldwide, and I've heard it repeated here. I have not read the book, but I am wondering what proof is offered. I asked this because T1 numbers are not reported to the CDC (at least not as far as I know), and JDRF's materials say that between 1 and 3 million Americans have T1. Well, that's a mighty big range.
I’ve heard this from my nurse practitioner as well, but from the standpoint of adults manifesting this more than in the past (myself being one of them, diagnosed this June at age 42). Other than that, I haven’t read any literature about it… yet. For such an old disease, it continues to be elusive in terms of its causes…
Unfortunately, in the United States, Type 1 diabetes is not a reportable disease, so it is poorly tracked. Then, most of the people with adult-onset Type 1 diabetes are misdiagnosed as having Type 2, and are included in the statistics for Type 2 diabetes (an alltogether different disease). If you read the scientific studies, estimates are that Type 1 is increasing at about 3% per year, and the studies don’t give a definitive reason for the rise, but just speculate.