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My grandmother died of diabetes before I was born, so I guess I'm in kind of the same position you are in. Although I'm not 100% sure of how diabetes works, I'm pretty sure that it is a genetic condition, and is more dependant on genetics than diet. However I do believe diet has somthing to do with it, but if you have a healthy diet there's not much else you can do to prevent it, if you are destined to get it through genetics.
The good news is there are 2 types of diabetes, type 1 and type 2, I forget which is which but one is child onset and the other is adult onset. If you get it as an adult its usually the type that can be controlled by diet, exercise, and oral medication, and most likely won't be a factor for your medical. Child onset is the type that has to be controlled by insulin injections.
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Most of the above is old info, which proves to be untrue these days. Specifically the 'adult-juvenile onset diabetes' info. You can develop either type of diabetes at any point in life. This is especially true of Type 2 diabetes. Unhealthy, obese children can very easily have Type 2 diabetes early in life. Basically, Type I is more difficult to control, i.e. insulin injections...but Type I diabetics also control their diabetes by eating properly. Type 2 diabetes can be a factor on your medical. There are some very unhealthy Type 2 diabetics out there that won't pass a Class 3 medical. Type 2 diabetics mainly control their diabetes with diet and oral medications like Glucophage. Type 2 is essentially caused by constantly high levels of sugar, and therefore insulin, in the body. So, high amounts of simple sugars in the diet are root cause of Type 2 diabetes--not simply obesity.