Some children born to mothers with type 1 diabetes may be predisposed to developing the far more common type 2 diabetes as adults, according to a latest report.
Some children born to mothers with type 1 diabetes may be predisposed to developing the far more common type 2 diabetes as adults, according to a latest report. The two major forms of diabetes are type 1 and type 2. The type 2 diabetes occurs when the body can no longer properly use insulin i.e. a hormone that, after food is digested, moves glucose from the blood and into body cells to be used as energy. In type I diabetes people make little or no insulin in their body, and need regular insulin injections to manage the problem. In a study, researchers at the Saint-Louis Hospital in Paris discovered that adult children of mothers who had type 1 diabetes - which normally strikes in childhood, were more likely to develop a condition that often precedes type 2 diabetes, the form of the disease that largely affects adults. In contrast, children born to fathers with type 1 diabetes and non-diabetic mothers showed no increased risk of the conditions linked to the type 2 disease.
However more studies are needed to replicate these results. Mothers who have their diabetes under better control, through treatment, diet and exercise might be less likely to predispose their children to the condition. This study emphasises the importance of the intrauterine environment, a period in which a human being is experiencing the most dramatic changes that will occur during his or her entire lifetime, as a determinant of adult health.
During the study, researchers measured whether participants showed signs of a condition known as impaired glucose tolerance, a condition marked by elevated blood sugar levels that often precedes type 2 diabetes. Among 15 non-diabetic adult children of mothers with type 1 diabetes, five had impaired glucose tolerance. In contrast, none of the 16 non-diabetic adult children born to fathers with type 1 diabetes showed signs of the condition. Both groups of adult children carried roughly the same percentage of body fat. These findings suggest that "exposure to a diabetic environment in utero" could cause changes in the body that predispose a child to develop type 2 diabetes as an adult. Just how the womb of a diabetic mother might influence the child's future diabetes risk is unclear. Diabetic mothers' high blood sugar levels somehow affect the development of the fetal pancreas. Adult children of type 1 diabetic mothers should maintain their normal body weight and a healthy lifestyle in order to avoid two important risk factors for type 2 diabetes - obesity and inactivity.
However more studies are needed to replicate these results. Mothers who have their diabetes under better control, through treatment, diet and exercise might be less likely to predispose their children to the condition. This study emphasises the importance of the intrauterine environment, a period in which a human being is experiencing the most dramatic changes that will occur during his or her entire lifetime, as a determinant of adult health.
The Lancet, June 2003; Vol. 361 (9372)
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