Today's Scary Statistic: a Denmark study indicates that Type 1 diabetics are more than - get ready - three (!) times more likely than non-diabetics to develop multiple sclerosis. According to the researchers, there are indications that MS and Type 1 diabetes may be somehow linked within what one might call 'disease families.' Why? Because Type 1 diabetes and MS are both autoimmune diseases, which cause the body to attack its own tissues. In the case of Type 1 diabetes, the body reacts against insulin-producing cells, whereas in the case of MS it attacks the myelin shealth that surrounds neurons in the brain.
Previous studies have indicated a link between Type 1 diabetes and MS, however, this is the first large-scale study to investigate the connection.
See the following Reuters report to learn more. The full results of the study have been published in the latest Archives of Neurology (July 2006).
