How Much Of Diabetes Is Genetic?

Paula Deen never said she was teaching us how to cook healthy food. But when she announced she’s had Type 2 diabetes for three years, all the while instructing America on the virtues of butter, critics couldn’t resist calling her a hypocrite.

But does poor eating lead to Type 2 diabetes, or is it all in the genes?

“We know you don’t inherit diabetes in a simple manner,” said Dr. Nolawit Tesfaye, an endocrinologist and diabetes specialist at Hennepin County Medical Center.

The research is quite complicated, according to Tesfaye. Clearly, there’s a correlation between obesity, inactivity and diabetes, but there also is a genetic predisposition to people with diabetes.

“Geners aren’t the only explanation, but environment is not necessarily the only explanation either. It’s a complex interaction between these two things,” she said.

According to the American Diabetes Association, about 20 million Americans have diabetes. Type 1 is an autoimmune disease, generally showing up in childhood or teenage years.

Is Diabetes Genetic? Many people who suffer from diabetes understandably worry that their children will therefore have it, although the reality is not quite as simple as that. Diabetes itself is not hereditary; although the risk factors that a person has are passed down through the genes, therefore making it more likely that the next generation will have it. An estimated 80% of those diagnosed with diabetes each year have at least one family member who already has diabetes.

A family history of diabetes is only one of the risk factors; other risk factors include having a blood sugar level of more than 200 soon after eating, having high triglycerides, smoking and low HDL (good) cholesterol. In general, in the United States, one in every three people will at some point in their lives suffer from diabetes, with women being more susceptible than men. And it’s estimated that by 2025, around 300 million people worldwide will suffer from diabetes.

It can be difficult to determine if you are going to get type 2 diabetes due to a family history of diabetes, as most people don’t develop any symptoms until middle age. Less than 1% of the population develops juvenile diabetes, while it is far more likely to affect people who are over 40 years old and who are also overweight or smoke, although in recent years it has begun to affect younger people more.

But the vast majority - in fact, 90 percent of cases - are Type 2 Diabetes. That’s when your body doesn’t make enough insulin, or it loses the ability to use it.

“Actually Type 2 has a stronger link to heredity than does Type 1,” said Tesfaye.

Again, according to the ADA, research on identical twins shows that when one twin has Type 1 Diabetes, the other twin has a 1 in 2 chance of coming down with the disease. When a twin has Type 2 diabetes, the other twin has a 3 in 4 chance of having it, too.