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December 27, 2006
Genetic Link
This short letter on the genetic predisposition to Type I and II Diabetes is somewhat provoking:
Type 1 diabetes is the somewhat-newer name for what used to be called insulin-dependent or childhood diabetes. The pancreas of people with type 1 diabetes makes little to no insulin, so insulin has to be furnished by injection or in other forms. Most of the time, the onset of this kind of diabetes occurs before age 20.The comments are actually in response to a letter written by a 20-year-old who was recently diagnosed with Type I. A common misperception is that the disease is inherited. The fact that there are other significant risk factors, other than those predetermined, provides hope for an effective treatment (IMHO).Genes have a hand in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, but more so in type 2 than in type 1. (Type 2 diabetes is the more prevalent kind, the kind that usually appears later in life and the kind that can often be controlled through diet and oral medicine.) If one identical twin develops type 1 diabetes, the other twin has a 30 percent to 50 percent chance of also coming down with it. Identical twins have identical genes. If genes were the only factor involved as a type 1 diabetes cause, both identical twins should get it. Something else, in addition to genes, has to be at work.
Posted by Diabetologica at December 27, 2006 12:01 AM