Gene 'doubles risk of diabetes'

A UK team discovered that people with two copies of the mutant TCF7L2 gene were twice as likely to develop type 2 diabetes compared with those with no copies. These findings led the researchers to believe that a particular genetic make-up can put people as much at risk of developing type 2 diabetes, as being clinically obese. The researchers looked at 2,676 European middle-aged men whose health had been tracked over a period of 15 years, to investigate the association between genes and diabetes. Of the 2,676 European middle-aged men, 158 developed type 2 diabetes. “The researchers discovered those carrying one copy of a variant of a gene called TCF7L2 were 50% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes, while those men who carried two copies of the variant were about 100% more likely to get the disease compared with those who had no copies.” The TCF7L2 gene's role in the body is not yet fully known, but it is thought to be important in the pancreas, where insulin is made. This is interesting because being obese has always been the main risk factor for developing diabetes, but now researchers are starting to see that healthy men can be in danger of developing diabetes if they have the variant of a gene called TCF7L2.
From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6076750.stm