Type 2 Diabetes:

*These figures are approximations.  Quite different estimates of risk show up on different studies from different parts of the world.  The estimates listed above are most applicable to North America.  Also (and importantly), remember that at least for Type 2 diabetes these risks can be substantially reduced by appropriate intervention with diet, exercise and sometimes, with medication.

**Can you think of a better illustration of the fact that Type 1 diabetes is clearly a mixture of both a genetic susceptibility and an environmental trigger?  If it was all genetic then, if your identical twin had Type 1 diabetes, you would have a 100% risk of developing Type 1 diabetes.   So what is the non-genetic factor?  What in the environment triggers Type 1 diabetes in susceptible individuals?  Is it a virus?  Something in the diet (such as nitrosamines in smoked meat)?  Is it early exposure to cow's milk?  We don't know, of course, and there is ongoing research to figure it out, including the exciting  TRIGR study which is looking at the latter possibility.

Also of interest is that although we speak of family history as being so important, at most only 15% of people with Type 1 diabetes have a first degree relative (brother, sister, father, mother, son or daughter) with Type 1 diabetes.