Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Weighing in on diabetes risk

Nature Genetics volume 19, pages 209–210 (1998)Cite this article

Of the many human traits a geneticist might elect to study, birthweight must seem one of the more challenging. There is good evidence for familial clustering of birthweight, but detection of aetiologic loci might be thought to be compromised by a host of external influences (including smoking, maternal nutritional status and obstetric practice) which influence fetal growth and the timing of birth1. Two studies — one presented by Andrew Hattersley et al. on page 268 of this issue2, and the other, by David Dunger et al. in May's issue of Nature Genetics3 — counter such pessimism by identifying genes which modify birthweight and birth size, respectively. At the same time, they may provide important clues to the aetiology of non-insulin-dependent (type 2) diabetes.

Interest in the control of birthweight has prospered following reports that low weight at birth is strongly associated with later risk of type 2 diabetes and related conditions, including dyslipidaemia, hypertension and cardiovascular disease4. This association has provided the battleground for a particularly lively, and unusually illuminating, flare-up in the 'nature-nurture' dispute. Lined up on one side are the proponents of the thrifty-phenotype hypothesis, who regard intrauterine starvation as the driving force behind both low birthweight and later diabetes. Opposing them are the massed ranks of the diabetes-geneticists, keen to maintain that individual susceptibility to diabetes is, in major part, genetically determined. The current studies provide most succour for those flying the genetic standard.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Wang, X., Zuckerman, B., Coffman, G.A. & Corwin, M.J. New Engl. J. Med. 333, 1744–1749 ( 1995).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Hattersley, A.T. et al. Nature Genet. 19, 268–270 (1998).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Dunger, D.B. et al. Nature Genet. 19, 98–100 (1998).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Hales, C., Desai, M. & Ozanne, E. Diabetic Med. 14, 189–195 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Neel, J.V. in The Genetics of Diabetes Mellitus (eds Köbberling, J. & Tattersall, R.) 283–293 (Academic Press, London, 1982 ).

    Google Scholar 

  6. Phillips, D.I.W., Hales, C.N. & Barker, D.J.P. Diabetologia 36, 471– 472 (1993).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Stanner, S.A. et al. B.M.J. 315, 1342–1349 ( 1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Velho, G. et al. J. Clin. Invest. 98, 1755–1761 (1996).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Pederson, J. The Pregnant Diabetic and her Newborn: Problems and Management. 211– 220 (Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore,1977).

    Google Scholar 

  10. Fowden, A.L. J. Development. Physiol. 12, 173–182 ( 1989).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Bennett, S.T. & Todd, J.A. Annu. Rev. Genet. 30, 343–370 (1996).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Waterworth, D. et al. Lancet 349, 986–990 ( 1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. McCance, D.R. et al. B.M.J. 308, 942–945 ( 1994).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Pettitt, D.J. et al. Diabetes 37, 622–628 ( 1988).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unit of Metabolic Medicine and Dept of Molecular Genetics, Imperial College School of Medicine at St Mary's, London, W2 1PG, UK

    Mark McCarthy

Authors
  1. Mark McCarthy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

McCarthy, M. Weighing in on diabetes risk. Nat Genet 19, 209–210 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/876

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/876

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing