Right now I’m sort of seeing the man I hope to marry and the other day we brought up the subject of babies. We discussing that there may be a high risk if we had children that one of our babies would have diabetes. Diabetes runs in my family and I believe it runs in his. He is a diabetic and I’m not. We figure we are in a very high risk category, but since at this time we’re not married or planning to have kids yet we haven’t asked a doctor. We would both like your opinions and answers.
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1 comment
reginachick22 says:
November 5, 2009 at 7:46 am (UTC 10 )
Is it the SAME Type of diabetes in both families? The genetics for Type 1 and Type 2 are completely unrelated. If one family has Type 1 and the other Type 2, the child is at an increased risk of either form, but it does not "doubly" increase the risk of either in that case. Two different diseases.
Type 2 diabetes does have a strong genetic link. However,in most cases, Type 2 diabetes can be prevented with a healthy diet, maintaining normal weight, and exercise, so it isn’t a huge issue. If his family has a RARE form of Type 2 called MODY, the risk is about 50% of passing it on. In this case, see a genetic counsellor. In most cases, children NEVER have to get Type 2 if they maintain a healthy lifestyle.
If it’s autoimmune Type 1 diabetes you are concerned about (the severe non-preventable kind that always requires insulin), then the risk is usually 2-5% for a mother passing it on, and 7% for a father passing it on. The risk of BOTH parents having Type 1 is about a 30% chance of passing it on. I assume the risk for you would be in the range of 30% up to even 50% if there is a large family history of Type 1 diabtes and other autoimmune diseases, especially on both sides. It’s a bit of a grey area. The risk is much higher than the general population risk for Type 1 diabetes (.5%), but not 100%.
There is a study called TRIGR that is looking at ways to prevent Type 1 in infants at risk. You can ask your doctor or go to their website.
Putting your infant on a gluten (wheat, barley, oats) and casein (cow’s milk) free diet from birth may help delay or prevent Type 1 diabetes in *some* infants. The data is inconclusive on this, but in your case it can’t hurt. In the TRIGR study, infants are fed a special formula in which the whole casein proteins are broken down.
I would also suggest you see a genetic counsellor.