How does diabetes and epigenetics relate?

Answer 1

Many factors play a role in the development of diabetes, with the biggest contributing factor being one's lifestyle i.e diet and exercise. Genetic susceptibility is the second largest contributing factor, with numerous studies showing an increased risk of offspring developing the disease when they are born to diabetic parents. It is interesting however, that offspring born to diabetic mothers are at a greater risk of developing diabetes earlier in life than offspring born to non-diabetic mothers. Excess of maternal transmission of diabetes (in comparison to paternal transmission) suggests that epigenetics play a role in the development of diabetes later in life (Cheung et al., "Mother to child transmission..."). This is most likely due to a hyperglycemic intrauterine environment (increased glucose levels delivered from maternal serum to the fetus through the placenta), which could affect insulin secretion or insulin resistance. Postnatal factors i.e infant feeding could also be another epigenetic factor in the development of diabetes--Pettitt and Knowler ("Long term effects...") did an interesting study regarding breast-feeding vs bottle-feeding and prevalence of diabetes.