“…The decrease of glucose tolerance with increasing age has been demonstrated by several investigators (8,19,20) and it has been suggested that different criteria for the interpretation of a glucose tolerance test should be adopted for persons over the age of 45 (28). I t can, however, also be postulated that the diabetic trend is much more common among older nondiabetic relatives of diabetic patients than heretofore believed and that a large number of such persons are able to resist successfully the development of diabetes although the ability of the #I-cells to respond to further stimulation is limited (8).…”