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SUSCEPTIBILITY TO DIABETES
You may inherit a susceptibility to Type II diabetes, but you do not inherit diabetes. Diabetes is caused by having your blood sugar rise too high after you eat. If you do not have your blood sugar level rise too high after eating, you are at low risk for developing diabetes, even if you have the genes that make you susceptible to diabetes. If you have any of the following warning signs of susceptibility to diabetes, you should immediately make lifestyle changes to prevent you from becoming a diabetic: avoid refined carbohydrates (foods made with flour, white rice, milled corn; all added sugars and drinks that contain sugar); exercise, lose weight if you are overweight, and keep your weight controlled for the rest of your life.
Risk factors for developing diabetes:
Family history of diabetes
Store fat primarily in the belly
High triglycerides
Low HDL (good) cholesterol
Blood sugar higher than 200 thirty minutes after a meal
Fasting blood sugar above 110
Women with excess hair on the face and/or body
Women who had diabetes during pregnancy
One study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (October 8, 2003) showed that one of three Americans will become diabetic, with women more likely to develop diabetes than men. The authors showed that the average person who is diagnosed with diabetes at age 40 will die 11.6 year earlier than a non-diabetic and he or she will be severely incapacitated with one or more side effects of diabetes 18.6 years before a non-diabetic.
More information and my recommendations on diabetes prevention and treatment.
Checked 10/9/09