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Diabetics Get Your Family Tested
By: Guin Van Niekerk
One of the most important things that needs to be done once someone has been diagnosed as having type 2 diabetes, is to get everyone else in the immediate family tested too.
There are two very compelling reasons for this suggestion. The first is the strong link between genetics and type 2 diabetes. Concordance studies (which involve identical twins who are brought up in different family situations) have shown that there is an eighty percent chance of one twin getting type 2 diabetes if the other twin has it. Because the twins are generally brought up in different environments, this risk is independent of lifestyle and dietary factors. It has also been shown that forty-five percent of first-degree relatives of an individual with type 2 diabetes will have insulin resistance. (First-degree relatives are defined as siblings, parents and children). And insulin resistance is the underlying cause of type 2 diabetes.
Having said all this, the second reason for screening family members lies in the proven fact that type 2 diabetes is often preventable. And where it is too late to prevent someone from getting type 2 diabetes, the onset may be delayed by a significant number of years.
And diabetes is not the only condition to look out for in ?diabetic families?. The underlying insulin resistance responsible for the diabetic tendencies in these families also causes another, even more dangerous condition: Metabolic Syndrome.
Also known as Syndrome X, or Insulin Resistance Syndrome, this condition is associated with a threefold increase in the risk of coronary heart disease, infarction and stroke. Metabolic syndrome is present in forty percent of people with impaired glucose tolerance, and in a massive seventy percent of people with type 2 diabetes. It often precedes the onset of type 2 diabetes and is thought to be the reason why eighty percent of diabetics die prematurely from cardiovascular disease (especially heart attacks and strokes).
The diagnosis of metabolic syndrome is fairly straightforward, and screening can be done by your general practitioner. I am, of course, making the assumption that the person who has already been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes has been tested for metabolic syndrome too. [If not, please ask your doctor to do the relevant tests ? this is something that could really prolong your life!]
Besides type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance is also responsible for a condition called Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, or PCOS. This condition affects up to one in ten young women, and is the cause of much unhappiness, especially when it results in infertility.
All of these conditions are important to diagnose, because they can be treated, and in some cases, even cured. Dietary modification and exercise play an extremely important role in the management of insulin resistance and its resultant conditions. However, some problems often need medication. These include high blood pressure and cholesterol abnormalities (which often occur in metabolic syndrome), as well as type 2 diabetes itself. Metformin, an ?insulin sensitiser?, plays a vital role in many of the conditions caused by insulin resistance, as it targets the cause of the problem. It is particularly useful for type 2 diabetes and PCOS.
So if you are ever diagnosed as having type 2 diabetes, and you are quite fond of your family, get them screened too. It could mean that they are around for a lot longer!
Dr Guin Van Niekerk is the author of ?Why Fat Sticks : An Introduction to Insulin Resistance? For more information on insulin resistance, and a checklist for testing for metabolic syndrome, go to
www.insulinresistancesite.com
Dr. Guin Van Niekerk qualified as a medical doctor at the University of Cape Town in 1997. It was while working a few years later as a general practitioner that she developed a strong interest in insulin resistance and its associated conditions. She subsequently ran a small metabolic syndrome clinic for her patients and discovered that the concept of insulin resistance was largely unknown to the public. This led to her decision to write the book, Why Fat Sticks. She resides in Oxfordshire. |
