Glucose Tolerance

Abstract

Joslin 1 states that diabetes is hereditary in 25% of the cases. In view of this, the authors were interested in determining whether or not a tendency toward, or an early indication of, diabetes mellitus could be noted by some slight abnormality in the response to the glucose tolerance test in relatives of diabetics. A preliminary study 2 left the authors unsatisfied, so the work was continued for a time.

In conducting the test, each subject was asked to eat a balanced diet during the previous week, as the diet may markedly influence the results. 3 The conditions were not ideal, since the term “balanced diet” is interpreted in various ways; however, it was impossible to keep the subjects on a known diet before the test. A 12 to 14 hour fast preceded the test. The sugar was determined in the fasting blood, then one gram of glucose per kilogram of body weight was given in the form of lemonade. The blood sugar was determined again one-half hour, one hour, 2 and 3 hours after the ingestion of the glucose. The sugar was determined in duplicate by the Shaffer-Somogyi method. 4

The subjects included 35 women and 18 men with maternal diabetic relatives, 20 women and 14 men with paternal diabetic relatives, and 8 women and 1 man with diabetic brothers or sisters. Of the entire group, diabetes mellitus had occurred in parents and grandparents in 9 women and 6 men; in 8 women and 1 man diabetes mellitus had occurred in both maternal and paternal relatives.

The results are presented in Table I; the glucose values are expressed as mg. %.