Is diabetes hereditary? What are the types of diabetes?

Diabetes is currently a traditional chronic disease. The early stages of diabetes include impaired glucose tolerance and impaired fasting blood sugar. These problems are told during the hospital examination. Diabetes also has a genetic tendency, some of which include family genetic history, but some patients with diabetes will not have genetics. Whether diabetes is hereditary can be judged based on the cause and pathogenesis of the disease.

Diabetes is a genetic predisposition

For example, some diabetes, such as MODY, may be inherited for three generations. But for the most common type 2 diabetes, when we talk about heredity, we are referring to genetic tendency rather than a true genetic disease. Another very important factor that determines whether you suffer from diabetes is environmental factors, including diet, lifestyle, mental state, etc. Type 2 diabetes is the result of an interaction between genetic and environmental factors. Both genetics and environment are important and neither can be ignored. Even if parents have diabetes, their offspring may not develop diabetes if they lead a good lifestyle.

The genetic susceptibility to type 2 diabetes has been confirmed by many practices. Studies have found that approximately 39% of patients with type 2 diabetes have at least one parent with diabetes. Under the same environment, the incidence of diabetes is different among different races. For example, the incidence of diabetes among Chinese in the United States is higher than that among white people. This also shows that Chinese people are more susceptible to diabetes.

Other studies have shown that in the United States, the prevalence of type 2 diabetes among African Americans, American Indians, Pima Indians, and Hispanics is 2-6 times that of Caucasians. The lifetime risk of type 2 diabetes in first-degree relatives of an individual is 5-10 times higher than in age- and weight-matched individuals with no family history of diabetes. However, even in people with an increased genetic risk of diabetes, environmental factors still play a major role in the development of diabetes. For example, the prevalence of diabetes among the Pima Indians in Mexico is less than one-fifth that among the Pima Indians in the United States.

Diabetes is just a chronic disease with a genetic tendency. Even if you have a family history of diabetes, it does not mean that you will definitely get diabetes. You can still avoid developing diabetes by living a healthy lifestyle. Therefore, friends with a family history of diabetes should develop good living habits from a young age, and not wait until they are diagnosed with diabetes to pay attention to it. I think it will be a bit late.