Diabetes

• Diabetes is a disease of the blood sugar levels that forms as a result of genetic and environmental factors. It's merely tendentious, however, and probably results from the interaction of multiple genes. This is illustrated by the phenomenon of identical twins, according to the American Diabetes Association. Although identical twins inherit the same DNA and risk factors, one may develop diabetes while the other may not. When one twin gets type 1 diabetes, the other twin has about a 50 percent chance. For type 2, that number rises to approximately 75 percent.
  
  

Type 1

• Type 1 diabetes results when the immune system destroys the body's own ability to manufacture insulin, which is a hormone that stores glucose when it saturates the blood. Risk factors are usually inherited from both parents. It can take many years to develop, and many times those who have type 1 diabetes also at one point had antibodies in the blood that attacked the body's own tissue.
  
  

Odds of Type 1

• According to the American Diabetes Association, If a father has type 1 diabetes, then the child has a one in 17 chance of also developing diabetes. With a diabetic mother it is one in 25 if the child is born before her 25th birthday, but 1 in 100 after 25. If both parents have it, then the odds are between 10 and 25 percent. The risk is doubled if one parent developed diabetes before age 11. Caucasians with the genes HLA-DR3 or HLA-DR4 are more likely to develop type 1 diabetes. Other ethnic groups are less well-studied, however.
  
  

Type 2

• Type 2 diabetes results from insulin resistance, in which cells can no longer use insulin properly. Those who inherit the risk factors have a strong predisposition to developing type 2 diabetes, yet its onset is only triggered by a particular diet that raises blood sugar levels well above the average. Obesity is also correlated with type 2 diabetes, as those who have high blood sugar and insulin levels also have a tendency to store fat.
  
  

Odds of Type 2

• If a parent was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes before the age of 50, then the child has a one in 7 chance of inheritance. If diabetes developed after the age of 50, then the odds are one in 13, according to the Association. If both parents have it, the risk is about 50 percent for the child. If a single parent has maturity-onset diabetes of the young, then the child has a 50 percent chance of developing it too.