Blood sampleswere examined from 42 female adult healthy subjects atdifferent ages and from 59 female patients with type II diabetes.A significant increase in SOD activities was correlatedwith aging in erythrocytes of the healthy control subjects(r = .550, P = .001); however, this correlation wasnot found in subjects with type II diabetes (r = .250, P <.07). The gene discussed is SOD1; the disease is type 2 diabetes mellitus.