Is diabetes hereditary?

Is diabetes hereditary?

The answer is complex and depends on the type of diabetes and frequently other factors such as diet, lifestyle, and environment.

For most people who have diabetes, it is not due to a straight genetic group of factors or to environmental ones, but rather it is a combination of both,

Type 2 diabetes can be inherited and is linked to your family history and genetics, but environmental factors also play a role. Not everyone with a family history of type 2 diabetes will get it, but you're more likely to develop it if a parent or sibling has it.

Type 1 and type 2 diabetes have different causes, but there are two factors that are important in both. You inherit a predisposition to the disease, then something in your environment triggers it.

Type 1 diabetes

In most cases of type 1 diabetes, people need to inherit risk factors from both parents. We think these factors must be more common in white people because white people have the highest rate of type 1 diabetes.

Because most people who are at risk do not get diabetes, researchers want to find out what the environmental triggers are. One trigger might be related to cold weather. Type 1 diabetes develops more often in winter than summer and is more common in places with cold climates. Another trigger might be viruses. It’s possible that a virus that has only mild effects on most people triggers type 1 diabetes in others. Early diet may also play a role. For example, type 1 diabetes is less common in people who were breastfed and in those who first ate solid foods at later ages.

In many people, the development of type 1 diabetes seems to take many years. In experiments that follow relatives of people with type 1 diabetes, researchers have found that most of those who later got diabetes had certain autoantibodies, or proteins that destroy bacteria or viruses (antibodies 'gone bad' that attack the body's own tissues), in their blood for years before they are diagnosed.

Even if you have a family health history of diabetes, you can prevent or delay type 2 diabetes by eating healthier, being physically active, and maintaining or reaching a healthy weight. This is especially important if you have prediabetes, and taking these steps can reverse prediabetes.

Children whose parents or siblings have diabetes have a 3-8% risk of developing the disease (compared to 0.3% in the general population)

⦁ If the father has diabetes; The risk that the offspring will also get type 1 diabetes is 2-3 times higher compared to when the mother has type 1 diabetes.

⦁ If both parents have diabetes : The risk for type 1 diabetes increases to 10-25%.

⦁ If siblings have diabetes: the risk of type 1 diabetes increases to 10% (25-50% in the case of identical twins).

Antibody detection

Lab tests can detect special antibodies in the blood (even years before the blood sugar level rises, antibodies against the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas (beta cells) are present in the affected persons).

The detection of antibodies indicates that inflammatory processes take place in the pancreas, which eventually leads to the destruction of the insulin-producing beta cells. Thankfully, for those relatives of a person with type 1 diabetes where no antibodies can be detected, the risk of developing type 1 diabetes is less than 1%.

Type 2 diabetes

Type 2 diabetes has a stronger link to family history and lineage than type 1, and studies of twins have shown that genetics play a very strong role in the development of type 2 diabetes. Race can also play a role.

Yet it also depends on environmental factors. Lifestyle also influences the development of type 2 diabetes. Obesity tends to run in families, and families often have similar eating and exercise habits.

Studies show that it is possible to delay or prevent type 2 diabetes by exercising and losing weight. Learn how you can prevent or delay type 2 diabetes.This is especially important if you have prediabetes, and taking these steps can reverse prediabetes.

Your child’s risk

Type 2 diabetes runs in families. In part, this is due to children learning bad habits—eating a poor diet, not exercising—from their parents. But there is also a genetic basis. The good news is, like in adults, it is possible to delay or prevent type 2 diabetes in youth by encouraging healthy food choices, exercise and weight loss. Learn about type 2 diabetes prevention.

Source

https://www.diabetes.org/

https://www.mysugr.com/

https://www.everydayhealth.com/