Gene Study Finds Link to Diabetes

Researches have found a link between diabetes and a genetic mutation on a hormone that affects your body clock, melatonin. This mutation is thought to have boosted the risk of the of having the disease. With this new information it could improve how a person is rated for being at risk for diabetes. The research team found that the rare genetic mutations in the receptor have found that this significantly increased the risk for type 2 diabetes. Melatonin is a key hormone that controls the body's sleep-wake cycle, and variations in the gene for the receptor MT2 have show to increase of up to six times the risk of type 2 diabetes. The reason melatonin is thought to be related to the to an increased risk factor for diabetes is that it controls the release of insulin which regulates blood sugar levels. The mutations in the MT2 gene can unbalance the connection between the body's internal clock and insulin release. There was no direct cause and effect relationship found but it is very interesting to see that they are beginning to find genetic causes towards this disease.

http://news.yahoo.com/gene-study-sheds-light-body-clocks-diabetes-190411168.html