Australian scientists say they hope their findings will lead to a pre-diabetes screening test that can help prevent the disease.
Their study, published in the International Journal of Obesity, found low amounts of PYY in the blood was a very early predictor of Type 2 diabetes and obesity.
Hormone PYY -- released from the gut after a meal -- creates a feeling of being full after eating.
The researchers at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney, led by Lesley Campbell -- also the director of Diabetes Services at St. Vincent's Hospital -- compared over a period of two years a group of eight people with relatives having Type 2 diabetes to a group of eight matched to the first group by age, gender, and adiposity but having no family history of diabetes.
"It was most important to match the groups for their fatness," Campbell said in a statement. "The only difference was their relatives. You assume that they are carrying the genetic burden of diabetes, which we already know to be a reality."