Type 1 diabetes (often called Juvenile Onset Diabetes) is categorized as a childhood or young adult disease but rarely can occur at any age. Diabetes symptoms sometimes begin out of nowhere and can develop over just a few days. If the person doesn’t have a family history of the disease, the possibility of diabetes may not even be considered. Type 1 diabetes is rare in most Asian, African, and American Indian populations but more common in Caucasians. Fortunately many of the common diabetic symptoms are similar to the more controllable form of the disease, Type 2 diabetes. Only 5-10% of the people expressing the classic diabetic symptoms will be diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.

Previous research has suggested that children exposed to the insulin which can naturally be contained in cow's milk may develop antibodies to insulin. It is possible that in some genetically susceptible children, a continuous, even small-dose early exposure to bovine insulin in cow's milk may lead to loss of tolerance to insulin and subsequent Type 1 diabetes. Interestingly, where the child had a diabetic mother, rather than a diabetic father, this effect was less marked. {Science
155:26, June 26, 1999]

Vaccination with the meningitis vaccine was found to create more problems than it resolved, causing 54 cases of diabetes per 100,000 children injected. [Autoimmunity August 2002 Vol. 35 (4), pp. 247-253]