Widespread temptations are bad news for people with a high risk of type 2 diabetes

Type 2 diabetes is often triggered by a sedentary lifestyle or poor diet. 

At the same time, some people have genes that make them much more likely to develop the disease.

“More people with a high genetic risk of developing type 2 diabetes are now developing the disease than they did in the past,” says Vera Vik Bjarkø.

She is a researcher at NTNU's Department of Public Health and Nursing and has recently conducted a study on the topic.

86,000 people studied

The study included data from more than 86,000 people with nearly 200,000 measurements.

The data came from the large HUNT study, the Trøndelag Health Study, in which data collection began as early as 1984.

“We see that the difference in the prevalence of type 2 diabetes between people with high and low genetic predisposition to the disease increased from the 1980s to the 2010s,” says Bjarkø.

But why are more people with a high genetic predisposition developing type 2 diabetes than before?

“We believe it's possible to see this as a sign of societal changes,” says Bjarkø.

More temptations than before

We are surrounded by many more temptations than before, both when it comes to diet and sedentary leisure activities. 

In 1984, many Norwegians still had only one TV channel, mobile phones weighed several kilos, and tablets were science fiction.

Many of us ate unhealthily then as well, but we were not surrounded by nearly as many tempting and quick calories.

Most people also had less money, and snacks and sweets were more often reserved for weekends.

“Our interpretation of the findings is that people with a high genetic risk are especially vulnerable in a society that may be more conducive to developing diabetes,” says Bjarkø.

Some people may be protected

It is those with a high genetic risk who stand out. For people with low genetic risk, the prevalence of type 2 diabetes remains consistently low throughout the long period, the researcher explains.

“It seems that people with a low genetic risk are largely protected from these kinds of factors," she says.

We simply don’t know that much about exactly how our genes influence this. But it's likely that some people have strong genetic protection against diabetes, Bjarkø believes.

"Some individuals may have a low genetic susceptibility to obesity, while others may have mechanisms that prevent them from developing diabetes even when severe obesity or other risk factors are involved,” she says.

Reference:

Bjarkø et al. Temporal changes and genetic susceptibility to type 2 diabetes (1984–2019; HUNT): a longitudinal, population-based study, The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, 2026. DOI: 10.1016/S2213-8587(25)00322-5

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Read the Norwegian version of this article on forskning.no

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