What is the connection between constipation and the epidemic of juvenile diabetes?
The pancreatic duct terminates in the duodenum, the first section of the small intestine that comes right after the stomach. The duodenum is particularly small in young children, and can be easily obstructed by the fiber in morning cereals, fruits, vegetables, or supplements, particularly when provided to relieve constipation. The ensuing obstruction, even brief, may block the pancreatic duct and cause inflammation of the pancreas. In turn, acute pancreatitis may cause the destruction of the insulin-producing beta cells in the islets of Langerhans. A child without functional insulin-producing cells is condemned to a life of blood sugar monitoring, insulin injections, and all that follows. By age 40, the mortality rate among children affected by type I diabetes is twenty times higher than in the general population. I discuss the likely events preceding pancreatitis here.
