Are genetics a factor in diabetes?

There are more than 80 genes and gene regions that affect the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, Griffin Rodgers, MD, director of diabetes, digestive and kidney disease at the National Institutes of Health, explains.

Transcript

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And it's these environmental factors-- lack of physical activity, increasing food intake,

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sedentary lifestyle-- which seem to contribute.

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What we're learning, again, is that your genetic makeup says a lot about your potential risk moving forward.

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And so far, in diabetes, type 2 diabetes, specifically, we've identified about 80, 80 plus--

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every week we seem to be adding one or two more-- genes or gene regions in our human chromosomes

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that puts one at high risk, or actually diminishes the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

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Those genetic factors, though, usually have to work in the context of a certain environment.

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And it's these environmental factors-- lack of physical activity, increasing food intake,

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sedentary lifestyle-- which seem to contribute. But we're learning that there may be even more to that equation.

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For example, the environment also includes the host of bacteria, viruses, and other species

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that are on our skin or on us and within us, the so-called human microbiome.

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And we know, for example, that, at least in experimental animal models, that obesity can be a transmissible factor.

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There is a transmissible factor in the gut microbiome

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that one can give to one animal and transmit it through a fecal transplant.

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So we're learning more about this. It could be, for example, that certain types of bacterias or combinations of bacteria are more

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efficient in extracting calories from any given quantity of diets.

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And that may determine to a great extent who develops obesity, who develops associated metabolic

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disturbances. [AUDIO LOGO]