Disease Proof

I honestly thought this was common knowledge by now, but according to Healthday News multiple new studies conclude obesity increases diabetes risk. Randy Dontinga reports:

Nearly three out of four morbidly obese 18-year-old men, for example, will develop type 2 diabetes in their lifetime. And 35 percent of 18-year-old women who are simply overweight will contract the disease.

"This is the first time we were able to collect the type of data needed for these observations," said study author Dr. K.M. Venkat Narayan, chief epidemiologist at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The research "can help us to know where to focus our attention."

Narayan's report is one of several studies into diabetes risk factors that are being released at the American Diabetes Association's annual scientific sessions, in Washington, D.C.

In the Narayan study, researchers examined the results of a national survey of almost 800,000 U.S. adults completed between 1997 and 2004. The researchers wanted to find out how body mass index (BMI) -- a ratio of weight to height -- translates into diabetes risk.

According to the study, an obese man with a BMI around 30 -- say, a 6-foot-tall man who weighs 225 pounds -- has a 57 percent chance of developing type 2 diabetes. A woman with the same BMI -- say, weighing 190 at 5-feet, 6-inches -- has a 55 percent chance.