Is Diabetes Genetic? Here’s What You Need to Know.

Just think about this for a moment – your health couldn’t be more perfect. You work out daily, eat healthy and even avoid passive smoking. Your lifestyle couldn’t get any healthier.

But what if a hereditary disease runs in your family, something pretty common like, say, diabetes?

This is exactly the circumstance I find myself in. Chances are you are too. After all, 1 in 11 adults in the world has diabetes. If you’re in the US, that ratio rises to 1 in 10.

Now, what if your mom, aunts, and grandma all have diabetes? What are the chances of inheriting the pesky disease, despite your super healthy lifestyle? Is diabetes genetic and is there no way to avoid it?

These questions have been weighing on my mind lately. So, I finally took matters to my hand and scoured the depths of the information abyss we call the internet to help put things in perspective.

Here’s what I found, simplified.

Does diabetes run through families?

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), a family history of diabetes certainly increases your risk of developing the disease.

But “…genes alone are not enough,” says the American Diabetes Association (ADA).

It presents research involving identical twins as evidence. Despite their identical genes, when one twin has type 1 diabetes, the other twin develops the disease only 50% of the time. The risk is 75% at most for type 2 diabetes.

“You inherit a predisposition to the disease, then something in your environment triggers it,” points out the ADA. From a poor diet to a sedentary lifestyle, many environmental factors could combine with your genes to accelerate your risks of developing type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

What percentage of diabetes is hereditary?

Here’s what research suggests.

• The risk of developing type 1 diabetes when one parent has the disease is 6%.

• The likelihood of getting type 1 diabetes when both parents are affected is +30%.

• The risk of developing type 2 diabetes for individuals who have one parent with the disease is 40%.

• The chance of getting type 2 diabetes when both parents have the disease is 70%.

• The risk of type 2 diabetes is also higher with a diabetic mother than a diabetic father.

Can you avoid diabetes if it runs in your family?

Looking at the data, it’s evident that not everyone with a family history of diabetes will have the disease. It simply increases your chances of developing it.

“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,” says the Center for Disease Control.

This certainly gives hope to those of us who run hereditary risks of developing diabetes. We still have a fighting chance to lead a healthy life.

So, my request to you is to care more for your body – eat healthy, exercise daily and quit bad habits that jeopardize your health.

There’s also a lot to learn about this prevalent disease. I believe that knowledge is an important key to unlocking the secrets to a diabetes-free life.

We’ve answered the question ”Is diabetes genertic?” in this blog post. I’ll be back with more short posts like this one to share what I learn in under 3 minutes.