In honor of Dr. Banting, who discovered insulin, the International Diabetes Federation IDF established Diabetes Day in 1991, and every year on November 14, Banting's birthday, holds events. On Diabetes Day 2021, the IDF has released its 10th edition of the Global Diabetes Overview. The report pointed out that the number of diabetics among our compatriots has reached 140 million, ranking first in the world, and in the past 10 years, the increase has reached 56%, of which 72.83 million patients have not yet been diagnosed. In addition, the number of people with impaired glucose tolerance has increased sixfold to 170 million, while the number of people with fasting blood glucose impairment is 27 million. These people, if prevented, can quickly develop diabetes. There are so many diabetics, is it related to our genetic structure? Let's combine the latest scientific research conclusions now to answer everyone's questions.
Looking at the overall incidence trend of diabetes, the view that it is influenced by genetic factors has been questioned. Because, the incidence of diabetes among our compatriots was at a low level before the 1970s, but after entering this century, it began to show a spurt of development. Therefore, the academic community once believed that the occurrence of diabetes is affected by a variety of factors of genetics and environment, and lifestyle changes are important reasons. However, in 2011, a genetic susceptibility verification study showed that there were 37 genes associated with diabetes, 45 polymorphic loci, 29 obesity-related genes, and 32 polymorphic loci.
For the rising incidence of diabetes, the American geneticist Neil once proposed the frugal gene hypothesis in the 1960s, which believes that our human ancestors lived in an era of relative material scarcity for a long time, with the ability to adapt frugally, and people who can maximize the conversion of food energy into fat storage can get more survival opportunities. In the process of evolution, people with frugal genes became winners, but offspring carrying frugal genes were more likely to develop diabetes due to fat accumulation in a material-rich society.
Scientists have also observed that people living in the colder regions of northern Europe are prone to develop type 1 diabetes in adolescence due to lack of insulin, while adults in East Asia are prone to type 2 diabetes, essentially reduced insulin sensitivity. Scholars believe that this phenomenon is related to a significant decrease in temperature during the Ice Age, and only those with hunter-response genes can survive. This reaction can allow people to encounter cold, first constrict the capillaries of the limbs, let the warm blood flow to the vital organs, and excrete excess water in the body, while rapidly burning fat and glycogen to supply energy to the body. The Inuit of Northern Europe have a strong hunter's reaction, and can raise the skin temperature of the hand from zero to 10 degrees Celsius within 3 minutes. A 2014 study found that Inuit carry a unique mutation in the TBC1D4 gene, and if their offspring get 2 copies of the gene and the mutation occurs at the same time, the risk of type 2 diabetes increases by 50%. The traditional dietary habits of the Inuit people are mainly based on food in the ocean, and the main ingredients are protein and fat, but the current diet structure contains a large number of carbohydrates, and the harmful effects of genetic mutations are reflected.
Scholars believe that the ancestors of the Norse people, in the cold, were able to use the brown fat in the body to the extreme, through immune cells, attack islet cells, stop the supply of insulin, give limited blood sugar to brown fat cells, and burn fat for energy. Our ancestors, during the Ice Age, did not encounter extremely cold weather, but there was not enough food, and people with insulin resistance genes in the body could eat a lot and store fat when food was plentiful. However, this ancient survival advantage, in the era of extremely abundant food, has become a disadvantage, because the current generation of people's energy intake is not as limited, and the activity is reduced, the energy consumption is much lower than that of the ancestors, the blood sugar level continues to increase, and diseases follow.
Recently, Nordic scientists published a paper in the journal Gastroenterology. The research team surveyed 6551 Greenlanders. It was found that carriers of 1 kind of glycase gene defect had low body weight, body fat, and cholesterol levels, and with the defect of this enzyme, indigestible sugars would be metabolized by intestinal bacteria to produce short-chain fatty acids, which would have a beneficial effect on health.
Carbohydrates need to be degraded into simple sugars in order to cross the intestinal epithelium, a process that requires the participation of multiple enzymes. If sucrase is missing from isomalase SI, it may cause children carrying mutations in this gene to develop indigestion and gastrointestinal symptoms. This genetic defect is extremely rare in most parts of the world, but the prevalence in the Arctic is as high as 10%. The researchers believe that this genetic mutation is related to the special diet of Greenlanders, because there is very little sugar in it, which may make the genetic mutation associated with sugar absorption more easily passed down. Theoretically, if this gene is knocked out, a variety of metabolic diseases can be prevented and treated. In general, the genes left by the ancestors in the harsh living environment may become the health curse of contemporary people, and we need to understand the genetic code, and change our own life behavior, conform to the rhythm of gene regulation, in order to reduce the problem of disease. How can the offspring of the frugal gene, overeating, unrestrained, lying flat after eating, escape the punishment of diabetes?
Whoever loves, pass on health to whom.