The genetics of diabetes is not the disease itself, but the susceptibility to diabetes
Many studies have shown that diabetes is a combination of multiple causes. Because the incidence of diabetes is higher in relatives of diabetics than in relatives of non-diabetics, then it suggests a genetic predisposition to diabetes.
Pyke in England observed monozygotic twins with diabetes for more than 20 years, and in 1982 he summarized the analysis of a survey of 200 twin pairs with diabetes. The consistency of diabetes in monozygotic twins (i.e., both had diabetes at different times after birth) was 90.6% for non-insulin-dependent diabetes and 54.4% for insulin-dependent diabetes, which indicates a more significant genetic predisposition for non-insulin-dependent diabetes than insulin-dependent diabetes. Diabetes has a genetic predisposition, and not 100% of the children of two parents who are diabetic will have diabetes, but only 5% will have diabetes.
If only one parent has diabetes, the chances of having children with diabetes are even lower and it is often inherited across generations. Studies have shown that diabetes is not inherited from a single gene, but from multiple mutations. It is not the disease itself that is inherited, but rather the susceptibility to diabetes, and certain environmental factors must be present in order for diabetes to occur.
Genetic factors in type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes
Both type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes are primary forms of diabetes. And both of them can involve genetic factors in their development. It has been found that the genetic predisposition is more pronounced in type 2 diabetes. It is worth noting, however, that although the two types of diabetes are slightly similar in name, the “substance” inherited in the body is very different.
Type 1 diabetes: The islets inside the body are susceptible to viral attack, resulting in damage to the body’s immune system, and this gene is passed on to future generations. This means that the gene is inherited from the virus that attacks the pancreas and causes autoimmune destruction.
Type 2 diabetes: The genes that are easily obese, underproducing insulin and decreasing utilization are inherited.
People with diabetes are often ordinary people
Although the children of diabetic patients have a susceptibility to diabetes, they are less likely to get diabetes because they have known a lot about diabetes since they were young, and because they pay attention to their diet and living in general, they are able to prevent it before it happens. Even if there is a slight increase in blood sugar, they will immediately take measures to actively avoid it.
The same is not true for ordinary people like us, who do not have a family history of diabetes but know little about the disease, do not pay attention to their daily diet, and lack proper self-protection, and as a result become the first in their family to develop diabetes!
Diabetes in the healthy population “preparatory army”
1.Over-eating
If you consume too much fat outside of your three daily meals, it will greatly increase the burden on your pancreas and make it easily tired and “sick”.
2, lack of exercise
If the body is always in a state of long-term rest, not to strengthen physical exercise, then the glucose in the body is easy to “pile up into a mountain”, the formation of obesity.
3.Ageing
With the growth of age, the function of various parts of the body also gradually decline. Similarly, the secretion capacity of insulin is also slowly reduced.
4.Work pressure
The high workload every day, coupled with the disorder of living habits, which is easy to cause the rise of blood sugar in the human body.
Although diabetes is hereditary, it can be avoided through lifestyle interventions. For example, in the Daqing trial in China, after six years of lifestyle interventions, it was found that the risk of diabetes decreased by 43% in the following 14 years. So we can see from this study that good diet and exercise control can indeed reduce or delay the development of diabetes.