The study, by St Mary's Hospital for Women and Children, Manchester, appears in Archives of Disease in Childhood. Type 1diabetes is an autoimmune disorder, in which insulin producing beta cells in the pancreas are destroyed by the body's own immune system, starting in early infancy.
Two million Europeans and North Americans are affected by type 1 diabetes with the disease becoming increasingly common. It is estimated that the number of new cases will rise by 40 percent between 2000 and 2010.
The Manchester team also found that higher and the more regular the dose of Vitamin D, the lower was the likelihood of developing the disease. Previous research has found that people newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes have lower concentrations of vitamin D than those without the condition.
Exposure to sunlight, which enables the body to manufacture vitamin D, lowers the risk of type 1 diabetes in children. Low levels of vitamin D and sunlight are linked to other autoimmune disorders, including multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis.
Experts recommend vitamin D supplementation for at least the first two years of a child's life. Vitamin D helps to keep the immune system healthy, and may protect cells from damage caused by chemicals which control inflammation.
