(Recently in the New Work Times' Science Times in the 'Health Section' the following article was published on May 18,2010. We hope that it will help our respected readers to understand the link between diabetes and family history.) New World
Link Between Diabetes and Family History:
Diet and lifestyle contribute to diabetes, but so does the family history. So Australian researchers undertook an unusual experiment: they recruited healthy volunteers from families with and without a history of of type 2 diabetes and overfed them.
The trial included 41 men and women, about half of whom had diabetes in their immediate families. The volunteers were asked to eat a high-fat diet loaded with 1,250 calories a day beyond what they needed.
After four weeks all of the participants had put on weight and showed some signs of insulin resistance, a condition that is a precursor to diabetes. But those with a family history of diabetes gained 7.5 pounds, significantly more than those without a genetic susceptibility.(4.8 pounds)
Those with a family history of diabetes also showed more insulin resistance.
The study was published in the Journal Diabetologia."Type 2 diabetes is both an enviornmental and a genetic disease." said the paper's senior author Leonie K. Heilbronn, an associate professor of nutritional physiology at University of Adelaide in Australia."So people who know they have a history of this should be extra diligent about eating right and exercising more"
Let us also hope, the scientists will be able to bring out some therapies which will be with the aid of stem cells and ultimately there will be a cure and we will feel this dreaded disease is a thing of the past.
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