Genetic Link Between Low Birth Weight and Adult Diabetes

Wed, 07 Apr 2010
A research team has recently discovered a genetic link between low weight at birth and adult diabetes .

The researchers have discovered two genetic regions which influence weight at birth, one of which is related to Type 2 diabetes .

It has been known for a while that individuals who were small babies are more likely to get diabetes and that a mother's diet and nutrition impacts upon her child's weight as well the future likelihood of developing the disease.

However, a genetic link has been established for the first time.

The findings were based on 19 European studies of birth and pregnancy .

The research has highlighted a variant in a gene called ADCY5 which was related to both weight at birth and Type 2 diabetes.

People who inherit two risk copies of this variant are 25 per cent more likely to develop diabetes as adults than those who inherit two non-risk copies, and they weigh less at birth.

These genes are going to start revealing the biology behind how low weight at birth increases the risk of adult diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease .

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