Is Diabetes Genetic?
For most people, type 2 diabetes is due to a combination of lifestyle and genetic risk factors.
Knowing your genetic susceptibility can point to the right solutions for:
- Preventing diabetes, if you are pre-diabetic
- Managing the course of the disease and decreasing co-morbidities
- Or possibly, reversing your diabetes
Genetic factors interact with environmental factors, such as:
- Diet (sugar and/or fat consumption – find out your kryptonite)
- Exposure to light at night
- Timing of food consumption
- Micronutrient intake
You can prioritize these environmental factors based on your genetic variants.
We often talk about diabetes as though it is one disease, but diabetes can have several different causes or pathways that impact glucose regulation. Tailoring your diabetes prevention (or reversal) efforts to fit your genetic susceptibility just makes sense.
Adding up the genetic risk:
Researchers have discovered many different genes that increase the relative risk of diabetes. The genetic variants listed below increase (or decrease) the risk of diabetes in most population groups. These variants are well-studied with many replication studies.
For the most part, genetic variants increase the risk of diabetes a little bit (generally between 10-40% increase in relative risk). Thus, the cumulative effects of multiple risk variants seem to be key. In other words, the risk is generally additive – the more risk alleles you carry, the higher the risk.[ref][ref]
Your diet combines with Genetic Risk Score:
Research shows that a ‘Western Diet’ is associated with an increased risk of diabetes only in people who carry a number of genetic risk variants. The Western dietary pattern did not have much of an impact on the risk of diabetes in people without the risk variants.[ref]
Genetic Variants Linked to Diabetes:
Below are some of the most well-researched genetic variants linked to diabetes.
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Is Fasting Right For You? (member’s article)
Fasting is often promoted as a way to lose weight and get healthy. There are some solid, science-based benefits to fasting. But is it right for you? Your genes may hold the answers.
Intermittent Fasting: Benefits from changing Gene Expression
What is interesting about IF is that it can change the gene expression in different tissues in the body. Something as simple as ‘not eating’ can cause an upregulation of proteins associated with longevity. This article digs into the recent research on intermittent fasting, focusing on how it changes gene expression.
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About the Author:
Debbie Moon is a biologist, engineer, author, and the founder of Genetic Lifehacks where she has helped thousands of members understand how to apply genetics to their diet, lifestyle, and health decisions. With more than 10 years of experience translating complex genetic research into practical health strategies, Debbie holds a BS in engineering from Colorado School of Mines and an MSc in biological sciences from Clemson University. She combines an engineering mindset with a biological systems approach to explain how genetic differences impact your optimal health.
Debbie Moon is a biologist, engineer, author, and the founder of Genetic Lifehacks where she has helped thousands of members understand how to apply genetics to their diet, lifestyle, and health decisions. With more than 10 years of experience translating complex genetic research into practical health strategies, Debbie holds a BS in engineering from Colorado School of Mines and an MSc in biological sciences from Clemson University. She combines an engineering mindset with a biological systems approach to explain how genetic differences impact your optimal health.