Maternal and Paternal Transmission of Diabetes: Influence of Nutritional Factors

Background: Pakistan is ranked at 6th place amongst the top 10 countries of the world. The number of estimated cases with diabetes in our country are 5.2 million in 2000 and projected to be 13.9 million in 2003. The objective of this research to examined risk for 2 diabetes and conditioned on directly ascertained parental diabetes status among population of Karachi, Pakistan. Methodology: This was a cross-sectional study. Young healthy subjects between 18-24 years were inducted. They were classified according to familial history of T2DM as Single Diabetic Parent (SDP), with Both Diabetic Parents (BDP) and with No Diabetic Parents (NDP). Anthropometric measurements where BMI (Body Mass Index) and WHR (Waist Hip Ratio) was assesed and Fasting plasma glucose was analyzed by photometric technique. Results: Paternal transmission of diabetes is 73.2% and Maternal was 26.8% in our population. Significantly higher statistical values were observed in the body weight of offspring of both diabetics as compared to NDP and SDP. Mean values for BMI among BDP were 25.58 +/-5.15, 22.26 +/-6.80 in SDP and NDP it was 21.02 +/-6.19 and 4.91 +/-6.78. BDP offspring showed high risk of WHR for males i.e 14.3% and for females it was 37.5%, and SDP offsprings had 23.1% in males and 30.4% in females, whereas offsprings of NDP had a normal WHR. Conclusion: Family history of diabetes in offsprings is an insight of developing diabetes in future offspring. We determined the parental transmission of diabetes mellitus in our population and evaluated its influence on BMI, WHR and Fasting plasma glucose. There was a raised frequency of paternal history of diabetes as compared to maternal history. Anthropometric measurements and Fasting Plasma glucose are the predicting factors contributing to T2DM in subjects who have diabetic parents, either single or both diabetic.