Blood glucose, otherwise known as 'blood sugar,' refers to the concentration of glucose molecules in your blood and is a very important health indicator for metabolic syndrome, including diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Especially as diabetes and heart disease become increasingly serious health burdens in the United States and around the globe, understanding how genetics influence our susceptibility for metabolic syndrome (and high blood glucose) is crucial.
In a study of Han Chinese populations, two gene loci were found to be associated with metabolic syndrome. Interestingly, the effect of having a specific genotype on your fasting blood glucose (FBG) (which is the amount of sugar you have in your blood when you are fasting) differs depending on whether or not you drink alcohol: for example, in drinkers, the difference in FBG among people with different variants of the rs671 gene is much more pronounced than the difference in FBG among those with different variants in non-drinkers. In other words, your habits indeed also matter in how your genetics influence your risk of having high blood sugar. Read more about it here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28371326
What is your genetic predisposition for higher blood glucose levels? Find out on Genomelink!
