I am not much on blaming diabetes on genetics until the researchers come out with evidence we can count on. I never experienced people with diabetes in my younger life, and there wasn't much education going on except denying yourself foods you love and much self pity, it seemed. My mother had all the physical evidence of metabolic syndrome but claimed she didn't have diabetes, however I don't know how much she was tested years ago because she always told the doctor how well she felt except for the arthritis and taking eight aspirin a day. My father had obesity, cancer, and was told to eat veggies, so he learned to eat peas in addition to green beans, and of course corn, which didn't help diabetes. None of us were educated about the matter, so it has been difficult learning to change our eating habits after thinking for years that we had a wonderful diet from our gardens, and we raised the meat in some cases.
I learned about good nutrition in 4-H programs but there was no discussion about sugar because it has no nutritional value. Everything was sweet and fat in my younger cooking days, and we reveled in the joy of eating. My father would say "we get too late smart" in his Pennsylvania Dutch style. Dorisena