Is type 1 diabetes genetic?

Is type 1 diabetes genetic?

Anne Peters, MD, FACP, CDE (Professor and Director of Clinical Diabetes Programs, USC Keck School of Medicine) gives expert video advice on: What are the symptoms of type 2 diabetes?; When should I get emergency care if I have diabetes?; Why should I should I have my urine checked if I have diabetes? and more...

Most of the time when I see someone with type 1 diabetes, I don't usually think they're going to have a family member with it. If they do, it's going to be something very distant. So, we know that there is a genetic component to type 1 diabetes, but there is also an environmental component. Something happens that we don't understand really; some trigger, something toxic, something chemical, or something viral, that creates the diabetes and creates the destruction of the insulin creating cells in the pancreas. I do have, rarely, families where there's two siblings with type 1, but it's not that common.