Genetic Risk Factors Of
Contracting Diabetes
The
causes of diabetes are extremely complex and only partly understood in full.
Unfortunately, and complicating the picture even further is the fact that
there are multiple types of the condition, each with its own set of risk
factors. Type One Diabetes and Type Two Diabetes are the most frequent,
embracing about ninety-seven percent or more of cases in the United Stated
alone. Each set of results comes from a combination of environmental and
genetic influences.
Of
those, Type Two Diabetes is by far and away the most common, at around
ninety percent of cases.
It’s
now commonly known that obesity is a major contributor to Type Two Diabetes.
Being overweight is a good simulation for a cause; since it is itself may be
a combination of genetic backgrounds and lifestyle choices. Though the diet
opted for and the amount of exercise one chooses to undertake are individual
lifestyle choices.
But
there are many other genetic risk factors for contracting Diabetes to
consider, as well.
A
history study of diabetes during pregnancy contributes to part of the total
risk. Just shy of forty percent of women who develop diabetes during
pregnancy (typically known as gestational diabetes) will later develop Type
Two Diabetes. That typically occurs within five to ten years after giving
birth. It’s also thought that those women who give birth to larger babies
have a higher risk of developing the condition.
Glucose
intolerance is another genetically influenced factor. Since Type Two
Diabetes results not from underproduction of insulin (as in Type One
Diabetes) but from insufficient use of it. Therefore, it’s not surprising
that glucose intolerance is a major contributing factor. It’s strange then
that glucose intolerance should exist at all as it's a major source of the
body's energy. But genetic anomalies produce some unusual situations that
could explain this.
Ethnicity plays a role in whether or not an individual will develop Type Two
Diabetes too, though the reasons are not fully understood yet. Even after
adjusting for lifestyle, Aboriginals, Africans, Latin Americans and some
Asian groups seem to be at a higher risk. The Diabetic profile varies
between one-and-a-half to two times the incidence among Caucasians,
according to one broad Canadian study. Strangely, though, the risk of Type
One Diabetes is much higher among Caucasians than any other race….
It’s
also worth mentioning that having high blood pressure raises the changes of
developing Diabetes too. This again is partly due to a lifestyle (chiefly,
diet and exercise) choice, but it also has a profound genetic aspect too.
There's also a strong link between those with high blood pressure and those
who will develop diabetes. Similarly, high cholesterol levels increase the
risk too. With over forty percent of those with diabetes will have higher
than average levels of cholesterol in their blood.
But
simple family medical circumstance is probably the largest genetic risk
factor of developing Diabetes.
As
an example, an individual with a parent or sibling who has Type One Diabetes
has him or herself a risk of ten to twenty times higher than average the
chance to develop Diabetes. For a newborn baby with a parent who has Type
One Diabetes the odds are one in twenty-five, or four percent if the mother
gives birth before the age of twenty five. Above twenty-five, the risk is
only one percent, about the same as the general population. The odds rise
sharply again to about ten percent, if either parent contracted diabetes
before the ages of eleven.
The
genetic risk factors of contracting diabetes are still an ongoing area of
research throughout the world today. Fortunately, while in generations past
there was nothing one could do to influence them, modern genetic treatments
into treating diabetes hold out promise of altering even these odds.
