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Diabetes And Genetics. Do We Have An Answer For It?

Although many diagnosed with diabetes have the disease somewhere in their family medical history, diabetes is not a disease that is inherited in any simple pattern.

First of all, Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes do not have the same causes. However, there are two factors that are involved in both: there must be an inherent predisposition for the disease and there must be a trigger for it.

Proof that genes alone are not enough to get diabetes can be found in the case of identical twins. Identical twins have identical genes, yet in cases where one twin is diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes there is only a 50% chance that the other twin will also develop the Type 1 diabetes. If the diagnosis is Type 2 diabetes, then the risk goes to 3 out of four for chance. A mixture of nature and environmental factors make it impossible to determine who will get diabetes and who will not.

Type 1 Diabetes

When it comes to Type 1 diabetes, people generally need to inherit risk factors from both sides of their family. These risk factors are very prevalent in Caucasian segments of the population. Still, even those who are at risk do not always get diabetes, prodding researchers to dig deeper into what possible environmental triggers there are that set off the disease.

Type 1 diabetes is known to occur more often in winter than in summer and therefore has researchers believing that cold weather is a possible trigger. Viruses are also suspected as a trigger as well as other auto-immune diseases. (Diseases in which the immune system attacks the body’s tissues.)

Type 2 Diabetes

Of the two types of diabetes, Type 2 has the stronger genetic base but depends a great deal more on environmental factors. The genetic predisposition for Type 2 diabetes mixed with those living in a Western lifestyle is an infamous cocktail for developing this disease. As is such with the great majority of the Western diet and lifestyle, too much fat and refined carbohydrates and not enough fiber coupled with inactivity has birthed this disease into epidemic proportions. As obesity rises, so do reports of diabetes. In comparison, those living in areas of the world that are not Westernized do not develop Type 2 diabetes despite their high genetic risk.

Gestational Diabetes.

Gestational diabetes, diabetes that develops during pregnancy, has no clear genetic or environmental triggers. Although women who develop the disease are more likely to have a family history of diabetes, it is unclear what other non-genetic factors play a role. Women who put off having children until their later years and women who are overweight seem to be the most common groups to be diagnosed but this is not always the case.

So what is the conclusion here? You can have the genetic risk, environment, and the lifestyle triggers, and still not develop diabetes. The other side is also true. Diabetes can develop without many of the triggers.

The only thing that we as a human race can do is limit the triggers for diabetes as much as we can. Eat healthy, exercise regularly, keep our weight under control and hope that our genes are in our favor.

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