I'm sorry if this question is offensive to anyone; I'm just honestly curious. I've noticed a strange pattern among my friends, and I want to find out if its an actual correlation or just a flukey coincidence. So would you be so kind as to indulge me with answering a personal question?

Hey, I think there are certainly things that run in families, or in certain ethnic groups. What kind of results have you gotten so far?

Yeah, it's true. For example Hipertension is common among african-american people. I know Diabetes (depending also about which type we're talking about) is common in a specific population although I can't remember which one...

Carolyn

I think diabetes is affecting more people in the general population than specific ethnic groups now. I discussed this a little bit with Queenie yesterday after she posted the poll. I had to run around and poll the people I knew with diabetes. My brother-in-law and his son are both juvenile diabetics. The mother-in-law is Irish Catholic, and the father-in-law is methodist with an English/Scandavian ancestry. I'm fairly sure my mother's boyfriend (also a juvenile diabetic) is some sort of christian, but I don't know him very well. And I had to run over to my diabetic black coworker to ask her religion, which is Baptist.

While diabetes can affect certain ethnicities more (a quick search says Hispanics, Latinos, Native Americans, Asian Americans, African Americans, and Pacific Islander Americans are more likely than any other group), diabetes seems to be a growing concern. I could be wildly off base, but I think it's because of our diet of processed foods, plus all of the sugar and fake-sugar we digest, which our bodies can't handle. Add to it our increasingly sedentary lifestyles (how many people work in an office sitting for 8 hours a day instead of doing manual labor?), and it's no wonder that more and more people are being affected by diabetes.

I have also known a number of diabetics that were also alcoholics that had no history of diabetes in their families. Although diabetes can run in ethnic groups and families the lifestyle of people today is most definitely causing the increase. As said we eat poorly and don't move.

QC, this group is far too small for a statistically significant number of diabetics (or Jews!) Also, you don't seem to be distinguishing between Type I and Type II, which are genetically quite different (although both seem to have genetic tendencies that are passed in families, Type II much more so).

Anyway, although I am not a diabetic (yet, anyway), there is Type II diabetes in my family. My dad has it, and several of his older relatives (a great aunt of his and I forget who else) did too.

All Jewish.