A Mother’s Gestational Diabetes Increases Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes Risks for Family

Families often eat similarly, be it lots of sugary treats, or healthier foods like fruit. That's why they can also have other similarities, like a propensity for diabetes. Tomsickova Tatyana/Shutterstock

You probably know someone with diabetes—an increasingly common disease. In 2017, more than 425 million adults were living with diabetes, and more than 1,106,500 children were living with Type 1 diabetes, globally.

There are three common types of diabetes. In Type 1, the body’s immune system attacks the cells that make insulin, the hormone that gets blood sugar (our body’s fuel) where it needs to go. In Type 2, the body makes insulin but the insulin cannot do its job. In both cases, blood sugar levels go up.