“Patients who come from families where there’s a history of diabetes on either side of the family can have a higher risk of developing diabetes, assuming that their dietary and exercise habits are not optimal. What we also find is that if they have a sibling with type 1 diabetes and they’re young, their risk of developing type 1 diabetes is also slightly higher than average. In general, though, the typical rule that we see is that people who are careful about their diet and exercise habits, despite their family history, tend to follow a normal pattern of development over time. If they’re children, and as adults, they may have a slightly higher risk. But generally they end up doing well and may not go on to develop diabetes in any way.”
Berestrand Williams, MD, FAAP is a board certified primary care doctor at Mount Sinai Doctors, seeing patients of all ages Monday – Friday. He has been nationally recognized, receiving the Surgical Scholars Award in 1987 and the AOL Foundation Grant: Franciscan Children’s Hospital in 2001. Dr. Williams is fluent in Spanish. Mount Sinai Doctors is an organization of clinical relationships and multi-specialty services that expand the Mount Sinai Health System’s footprint beyond the seven main hospital campuses into the greater New York City area.