The genetic risk of type 2 diabetes is complex, and family history helps identify those at increased risk, says Dr. Karl Nadolsky, spokesperson for the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) and clinical endocrinologist at Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
“Certainly, a patient diagnosed with T2DM [type 2 diabetes mellitus] at age 40 puts his children at increased risk. Having a first degree relative with T2DM is indication for screening in adults,” Nadolsky told Healthline.
He also explains that having gestational diabetes significantly predicts future risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
During both of my pregnancies, I developed gestational diabetes despite being a moderate weight.
According to research, that makes me 10 times more likelyTrusted Source to develop diabetes within 10 years of my pregnancies than women who didn’t have gestational diabetes.
“[Gestational diabetes] is also an indication, along with prediabetes, for intensive lifestyle intervention (i.e., diabetes prevention program) to prevent T2DM. Recurrent [gestational diabetes] may predict higher risk of T2DM, but likely more related to the adiposity-based risk factors in those patients,” Nadolsky said.
“It is feasible that recurrent episodes of worsened insulin resistance due to recurrent [gestational diabetes] place high demands on the pancreas and contribute to an eventual decline in beta cell function that leads to type 2 diabetes in high-risk individuals,” Nadolsky said.
Treatment for prediabetes includes intensive lifestyle management, explains Dr. Scott Isaacs, spokesperson for the AACE and medical director of Atlanta Endocrine Associates.
“Therapeutic lifestyle management includes medical nutrition therapy (the reduction and modification of caloric and saturated/hydrogenated fat intake to achieve weight loss in individuals who are overweight or obese), appropriately prescribed physical activity, avoidance of tobacco products, adequate quantity and quality of sleep, limited alcohol consumption, and stress reduction,” Isaacs told Healthline.
However, knowing all of this is one thing. Doing something about it is another.
For years, I took preventive measures for my breast cancer risk. My mom was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer when she was 35, the same age her mother was diagnosed and younger sister would be diagnosed, too.
Because of this, in the early 2000s, my OB-GYN recommended I get mammograms every year starting 10 years before the age my mother was when she got her diagnosis. Once I turned 25, I began diligently getting mammograms.
Weeks before my mom died from breast cancer in 2007, she underwent genetic testing and discovered she carried the BRCA2 gene mutation.
In 2010, I received the test, learning that I’m not a carrier. This information means I have the same risk for developing breast cancer as other women who don’t carry the gene.
While facing my breast cancer risk felt more daunting than facing my diabetes risk, I did it. Yet, in my 20s and 30s, I still wasn’t willing to take the steps needed to reduce my risk for developing diabetes.
Finally, at 42, I was ready.
A month before my youngest child’s 10th birthday this January, I made a promise to myself that I would try to beat the odds and my family history.
I joined a weight loss program (Weight Watchers) in December and began losing weight. I was on a roll and proud of myself.
Then the pandemic hit.