What is diabetes?

Diabetes is a prevalent metabolic disorder characterized by high blood sugar levels. This condition happens when your body can’t produce enough insulin, as in the case with Type 1 diabetes, or when your cells become resistant to the insulin that is produced, as in the case of Type 2 diabetes.

Insulin’s primary function is to facilitate the uptake of glucose - a byproduct of sugar - by your cells, allowing them to convert this sugar into energy. Think of insulin as a key that unlocks your cells and enables glucose to enter and fuel essential metabolic processes. When insulin levels are out of balance, it not only impacts energy metabolism, but it can also lead to a wide range of health problems including weight loss resistance and cardiovascular disease.

Understanding autoimmune diseases

In order to really answer the question “is diabetes an autoimmune disease”, we have to understand what causes an autoimmune disease to develop in the first place.

Think of autoimmune disease as a case of mistaken identity. Regardless of what autoimmune disease you have, your body’s immune system ends up accidentally triggering an inflammatory response and starts producing antibodies against your own tissues, leading to breakdown and destruction in a certain area of your body.

But if your immune system is naturally designed to protect against viruses and bacteria, why would it suddenly mistake your body for an enemy? The truth is, researchers don’t know yet what exactly causes autoimmune disease, but they believe it has to do with a genetic weakness being triggered by an immune system response to toxins, poor diet, stress, or chronic viral, yeast, bacterial, or parasitic infections. And what do all of these have in common? Out-of-control inflammation.

The consequences of autoimmune disease are diverse, ranging from localized tissue damage to systemic inflammation affecting multiple organs. That’s why if you have one autoimmune disease, you are at an increased likelihood for developing another. There are over 80 known (2) autoimmune diseases (and many more with an autoimmune component) but these are some of the ones I see most often in my telehealth functional medicine clinic:

• Graves’ disease
• Hashimoto’s thyroiditis
• Lupus
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Ulcerative Colitis

To learn more about autoimmunity, check out my complete guide to symptoms, causes, and natural solutions here.

Type 1 diabetes and autoimmunity

Now that we understand what autoimmune diseases are, we can see clearly why Type 1 diabetes is classified as an autoimmune condition. Often diagnosed in childhood or adolescence, Type 1 diabetes occurs as a result of your body’s immune system attacking and destroying the insulin-producing beta cells in your pancreas. This results in a lack of insulin, making lifelong insulin replacement therapy necessary for your body to function the way that it is designed. According to the American Diabetes Association, (1) out of the 38.4 million Americans diagnosed with diabetes, Type 1 diabetes only accounts for 2 million of those cases. 

Type 2 diabetes and autoimmunity

In contrast to Type 1 diabetes, Type 2 diabetes is primarily driven by lifestyle factors and genetic predisposition. In Type 2 diabetes, cells in the body become resistant to the effects of insulin, resulting in elevated blood sugar levels. Your pancreas, in response, may produce more insulin initially, but over time, it may not keep up with the demand. 

Unlike the more sudden onset of Type 1 diabetes, Type 2 diabetes typically develops gradually, and it is often diagnosed in adulthood since years of unhealthy lifestyle factors such as sedentary behavior, poor diet, and obesity are major contributors to the development of this condition. 

The connection between Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes

Although Type 2 diabetes isn’t officially considered an autoimmune condition, emerging research suggests what we in functional medicine have known for years: That there may be autoimmune components involved in Type 2 diabetes.

While not as pronounced as in Type 1 diabetes, studies have indicated the presence of low-grade inflammation and immune system activation in individuals with Type 2 diabetes. As the driving factor behind most of our modern day health problems, chronic inflammation has been linked to insulin resistance which is a hallmark of Type 2 diabetes.

What about Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults?

Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults (3) - or LADA for short - is a distinct form of diabetes that manifests in adulthood and shares characteristics of both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. Often referred to as "Type 1.5 diabetes," LADA is also considered an autoimmune disease due to the fact that the immune system attacks and impairs the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas - just at a slower rate than Type 1 diabetes. While people with LADA can also experience insulin resistance like those with Type 2 diabetes, they eventually develop a dependence on insulin as beta cell function diminishes and insulin production slows down.