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A diabetes expert shares some advice.

If I have kids someday, will they inherit my diabetes?

Passing on diabetes to your offspring is a possibility, but your child’s risk of developing the condition may not be that high. Here’s how the American Diabetes Association estimates the likelihood:

• When only one parent has type 1 (note that the risk doubles if the parent was diagnosed by age 11):  
• If only the father has type 1, his child has a 6% chance of developing type 1.
• If only the mother has type 1 and she gave birth before she was 25 years old, her child has a 4% chance of developing type 1.
• If only the mother has type 1 and gave birth after she turned 25, her child has a 1% chance of developing type 1.
• If neither parent has diabetes: a child has an 11% chance of developing type 2 diabetes by age 70 and a 1% of developing type 1 diabetes by the age of 50.
• If one parent developed type 2 before age 50: a child has a 14% chance of developing type 2 diabetes.
• If both parents have type 2: their child has a 45% chance of developing type 2 diabetes by age 65.

Published February 20, 2015. 

— Advice by Janis Roszler, MS, RD, LD/N, CDE, FAND. Janis is a registered dietitian, certified diabetes educator, and a marriage and family therapist. Among her many books are Sex and Diabetes and The Secrets of Living and Loving with Diabetes.