British scientists have devised a blood test that shows the likelihood of developing diabetes in the next 10 years.
The test looks for DNA “methylation” – those chemical changes in the blood that show whether the activity of genes associated with diabetes is either increased or decreased.
According to Riccardo Marioni from the University of Edinburgh, lead author of the study which spanned 15 years, such a test could increase the percentage of people detected at risk of type 2 diabetes by up to 18%, writes Science Daily.
Thanks to this test, the percentage of people detected by the standard method used by doctors today would increase from the current 30% to 48%.
So far, about 15,000 people have been tested over the years, the test proving to be effective.
According to the author of the study, the same approach can be used to detect several common diseases, using only simple blood or even saliva samples.
