Is diabetes hereditary?

[Rachox]

Hi Rachox, I do wonder sometimes whether that is more to do with so many people going undiagnosed? I know we have these 'well person' clinics now where everyone over 40 odd gets called in for a health test but I wonder what happened before this?, did people actually have type 2 but didn't know?

edited to add; ah, just saw Mr Pot's comment!

Yes I agree. But looking across the present generation, rather than backwards, I don’t find any fellow type 2s either.

 

[rochari]

I've been type 1 for almost most of my life. My mother, grandmother and great-grandmother were also all type 1's. In years gone by when my gran lived with us there were three pots on the hob boiling the needles and glass syringes most evenings. I still smile thinking that they could all have gone into one! Showing my age now but my great-grandmother died from the illness as there was no insulin in those days. I was always told she lived for on a cabbage diet in the months before passing. Bill

 

[Yellredder]

I've recently been diagnosed with T2D. My mother was diagnosed in her sixties, but hadn't been tested previously so could have had it earlier. Her father developed it when he was older and his father has it as a cause of death on his death certificate. My mum probably had gestational diabetes - she was told her sugars were too high when pregnant with him, but nothing done about it. I was tested when pregnant because my mum had just been diagnosed and because I was 42, and I had gestational diabetes. I made sure I breastfed for as long as possible as I was told that that would reduce the risk of both myself and my daughter developing it - but I've got it four years after I stopped!! Am hoping I did enough for my daughter!

 

[HelenHak]

Both my mother and my maternal grandmother developed T2

 

[porl69]

For type 1s definitely not. Before our amazing friend, Frederick Banting, invented insulin all the type 1s would not have lived long at all.

 

[Shiba Park]

For type 1s definitely not. Before our amazing friend, Frederick Banting, invented insulin all the type 1s would not have lived long at all.

Not strictly true; I developed T1 when both my kids were teenagers!
But I agree that in years gone by, most T1's would not have lived long enough to pass on their genes.

 

[porl69]

Not strictly true; I developed T1 when both my kids were teenagers!
But I agree that in years gone by, most T1's would not have lived long enough to pass on their genes.

Has anyone else in your family got type 1?
The type 1 gene would have died out if it was hereditary due to the VERY short life span of a type 1 with no insulin

 

[Knikki]

Has anyone else in your family got type 1?
The type 1 gene would have died out if it was hereditary due to the VERY short life span of a type 1 with no insulin

That's because T1D can skip generations, just because you mum or dad had it does not mean their offspring would defiantly get it, but there could be a possible that the child of that offspring or the grandkids could develop it.

 

[porl69]

That's because T1D can skip generations, just because you mum or dad had it does not mean their offspring would defiantly get it, but there could be a possible that the child of that offspring or the grandkids could develop it.

I still think the Gene would have died out a long time before Banting came around. I have traced my family tree back a few generations and I was the 1st T1D. Now, my nephew and a cousin has it. From a fairly large family as well

 

[Knikki]

I still think the Gene would have died out a long time before Banting came around. I have traced my family tree back a few generations and I was the 1st T1D. Now, my nephew and a cousin has it. From a fairly large family as well

Well that's another discussion to be had because when was "diabetes" actually classed as a condition?

Just doing the Goole seem the Egyptians circ 1500BC were classing it as "too great emptying the urine" which is believed the first reported cases so its been around a long time, even longer than you

I don't know, but don't forget that in the past what we would now a days class as children would certainly had kids and so passed on many genes, which are remarkable resilient.

True Banting has no doubt saved many many lives and allowed us to last longer and reproduce at a prolific rate and so making sure that the defect gene and many other still stays in the population.

 

[porl69]

Well that's another discussion to be had because when was "diabetes" actually classed as a condition?

Just doing the Goole seem the Egyptians circ 1500BC were classing it as "too great emptying the urine" which is believed the first reported cases so its been around a long time, even longer than you

I don't know, but don't forget that in the past what we would now a days class as children would certainly had kids and so passed on many genes, which are remarkable resilient.

True Banting has no doubt saved many many lives and allowed us to last longer and reproduce at a prolific rate and so making sure that the defect gene and many other still stays in the population.

Truce

 

[Shiba Park]

Has anyone else in your family got type 1?
The type 1 gene would have died out if it was hereditary due to the VERY short life span of a type 1 with no insulin

My point was that many people develop T1 after childhood.

 

[porl69]

My point was that many people develop T1 after childhood.

Oh yeah totally agree

 

[Shiba Park]

Oh yeah totally agree

Which means they have the opportunity to pass on their genes - so the genetic connection with T1 would not necessarily die out.

 

[porl69]

Which means they have the opportunity to pass on their genes - so the genetic connection with T1 would not necessarily die out.

I was the 1st T1D in my family, have traced my family tree back a long time. I really don't believe it's hereditary. Just my personal opinion

 

[julie56]

Well I seem to be following in the footsteps of my father, being diagnosed T2 in my fifties. Like him I have never been obese and have always been outdoorsy and active. I have never known anyone with as much stamina as my Dad - yet we both got T2 and I feel sure there is a hereditary connection - but I am sure there is yet much to be discovered in the different causes in all types.

 

[Shiba Park]

I was the 1st T1D in my family, have traced my family tree back a long time. I really don't believe it's hereditary. Just my personal opinion

Well the general opinion of medical science is that there is a genetic component. Who knows for sure?

I was responding to your view that "The type 1 gene would have died out if it was hereditary due to the VERY short life span of a type 1 with no insulin". There are plenty of people who develop T1 after passing on their genes. Their lifespan after that point is immaterial.

 

[Indy51]

All autoimmune diseases have 3 components - (1) genetic predisposition, (2) environmental trigger and (3) intestinal permeability. When you develop the condition will depend on all 3 factors being present at the same time. It used to be thought that coeliac disease was a disease of childhood, now they have documented cases occurring at all ages - the intestinal permeability and loss of tolerance controls the timing. Same for Type 1.

If you want to learn more, check out the work of Dr Alessio Fasano.

 

[DCUKMod]

Even where things are hereditary, or likely to be hereditary, there's no resultant certainty the offspring will be diagnosed with anything.

My family is littered with both T1s and T2, and even moreso with other autoimmune conditions, to the extent that having gone thorough my family medical history with an Endo recently, I left with a massive list of blood tests to be done, because he was certain I'd have something AI. I had nothing AI diagnosed, although he did say in a throwaway fashion that it's likely just a matter of time.

Personally, I'm not wasting any time or headspace worrying about what's coming or when. I'm getting on with living my life well, and as healthily as I can.

 

[Brunneria]

For those saying that there is no diabetes in their family histories, going back generations, do you have any deaths from heart disease?

There are numerous studies (one linked below) showing that by the time someone has heart disease, then they have a very high chance of already having metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance and T2.

https://openheart.bmj.com/content/4/2/e000729

So I would suggest that there may be clues in the family tree rather than explicit references to T2, especially since uncontrolled T2 increases the liklihood of all sorts of other ways of dying, from infections and kidney failure, to corpulence and apoplexy.