Scientists have recently discovered a variant gene in human DNA that they believe may cause Type 2 diabetes. More importantly, it is believed that a third of the American population carries this gene. Scientists at Decode Genetics, the research company of Reykjavik, Iceland, discovered the gene.

Diabetes Gene Discovery Benefits

There are many benefits to discovering the source of a disease that is taking the nation by storm. If scientists are able to develop a strategy to test people to for the "Diabetes Gene," it may help improve the overall health of those diagnosed.

Scientists say that if all the diabetes variant genes were erased from the population, 21% of all diabetes cases would be erased. This fact implies that while the discovery of the "diabetes gene" is helpful to science, the environmental factor still plays a large part in acquiring diabetes.

Diabetes Facts and Figures

Diabetes is a disease in which the sugar (glucose) level in a person's blood is above average. There are two main reasons that a person may have higher sugar content in his/her blood. The pancreas produces a hormone called insulin, which helps sugar move from the blood into cells. If the pancreas doesn't make enough insulin, or if it can't use the insulin it makes appropriately, sugar builds up in the blood. Some symptoms of diabetes are unexplained weight loss, extreme thirst, excessive urination, and extreme tiredness. Some side effects of diabetes are heart disease, blindness, kidney failure, and lower extremity amputation.

Though Type 2 Diabetes is most commonly found in young adults and adults, it is increasingly being detected in younger people as well. Approximately 90% of people diagnosed with diabetes are declared to have Type 2 Diabetes.

In 2005, 20.8 million people in the United States had diabetes. This figure accounted for 7% of the entire population. 14.6 million people were diagnosed, and an estimated 6.2 million were un-diagnosed.

The Human Genome Project

The Human Genome Project was a world wide scientific project that took place over the years 1990-2003. The project was coordinated by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Institute of Health. The United Kingdom, The United States, France, Japan, Germany, China, and other countries were involved in the study. The primary goals of the project was to identify the 20,000-25,000 genes in human DNA and determine the sequence of the 3 billion chemical pairs that make up DNA.