One of our blog readers, Kris mentioned something really interesting in her reply to my post Sweden leads charge on type 1 vaccinations.

I’m just repeating what she said for your benefit: in NZ you can go to the Liggins Institute and get a blood test done which will be sent off to the States to be processed through TrialNet.

According to their website:

We can tell if a person is at risk [of Type 1 diabetes] by doing a blood test. Certain proteins show up in the blood up to 10 years before a person develops diabetes.

You may be able to get this blood test through TrialNet if you are:

• 1 to 45 years old and have a brother, sister, child, or parent with type 1 diabetes, or
• 1 to 20 years old and have a cousin, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew, half sibling, or grandparent with type 1 diabetes

This was definitely not around when I was diagnosed in 1994. I will have to tell my family about it. Would love to hear your experiences with it if you’ve tried it.