You’ve heard the old saying use it or lose it, haven’t you?Apparently it applies to those with Type 1 diabetes, as well. We can’t use our T1D pancreases but they shrink as the sands fall through the hourglass.

A new study has confirmed that people with T1D have smaller pancreases than those without diabetes. The middle-aged men in the study were evaluated with MRI scans of the pancreas. The men with recent onset T1D were shown to have pancreases 26% smaller than the non-diabetic men.

Researchers believe that the shrinking begins before the diagnosis of T1D. A previous study found that in people who’ve had T1D for more than 10 years, the pancreas is an average of 48% smaller.

This research was published in the November 2012 issue of Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. I wonder if there is a study of pancreas volume in Type 2 diabetes, newly onset and people who’ve had T2D for over 10 years. Would T2D have the opposite effect on pancreas volume?