Heredity and lifestyle in diabetes

For years it was believed that heredity was the primary defining factor in whether or not a person got diabetes. Those with a family history watched their sugars and exercised more in the hopes of not getting diabetes and its secondary complications of kidney disease, heart disease, and eye disease.

Now it appears that a person's lifestyle is as important as heredity and those that don't have a family history of diabetes still can get diabetes if they have a poor diet, don't exercise, smoke and drink alcohol. These things have independently been found to increase a person's risk of getting diabetes.

Those with a family history who practiced healthy life habits had a lesser degree of getting diabetes, even if they were otherwise obese. Each additional lifestyle habit they changed had an impact on the risk of getting diabetes.

One of the questions that needs to be answered first is; "is diabetes hereditary?" this will help researchers develop treatment programs that can help prevent or cure this killer disease. While researchers are still not clear as to what causes diabetes there are many factors they have identified that provide a common link in the diabetes question.

Whiles the predisposition to get diabetes is hereditary, there are a number of heredity factors and environmental conditions that will play into if someone develops diabetes. Diabetes is what is classified as an autoimmune disease, where our body sees part of the body as an invader and attacks it.

Autoimmune diseases do tend to run in families and where you see one autoimmune disease you are likely to find others. So while nobody in your family may have diabetes, if members of your family have other autoimmune diseases such as thyroid disease or rheumatoid arthritis, it is possible to also see diabetes show up.

Aside from asking if diabetes is hereditary; researchers are also looking at environmental factors, such as obesity, lack of activity and age. Diabetes most often shows up in people over the age of 45 who are obese, and do not get enough exercise. This leads one to think that despite heredity that type 2 diabetes can also be prevented by proper diet and maintaining a normal weight.

With more children being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes at young ages, this is becoming more and more of a certainty. Children have become more sedentary and accustomed to a diet of processed, refined food and drinks leading to obesity and ultimately to diabetes.

Regardless of whether type 2 diabetes is hereditary or not, it is clear that it is both preventable and controllable maintaining a healthy weight and including a healthy diet and exercise into your life.

Diabetes is an epidemic that is costing governments a great deal of money and healthcare organizations are spending money on treating this disease and its many side effects and complications.

It is expected that people exercise at least 20 minutes per day, three times per week and never smoke if they want to keep diabetes at bay. They should limit their drinking to social drinking or around one drink per night for women and two drinks per night for men. These habit changes can affect the incidence of diabetes even if you have a strong family history for the disease.

Governments need to start programs in which these dietary and lifestyle habits are introduced and promoted in order to decrease the incidence of diabetic diseases. This can come from the Ministries of Health or other non-profit healthcare organizations interested in slowing the progression of disease. This needs to be a worldwide change in order to make sure that people all over the world can become healthier and decrease the worldwide incidence of the disease.