Message from a 'friend'

[everydayupsanddowns]

The Friend's message doesn't actually mention Obesity does it ?

The scientific explanation of the connection between Obesity and Type 2 diabetes is being proven by research ....such as ....

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090708090917.htm

The friend's sentences about the proportion of the population being overweight and the simplistic assertion that this causes T2s make their opinion pretty clear though McD

(which is why more than half the population are overweight).

Weight gain is a real cause for diabetes and it is a life-style choice .

I know you and I have slightly different opinions about the nature of the relationship between weight and development of T2 (cause vs risk), but in the light of the link you posted I wonder why the vast majority of obese people don't seem to develop diabetes?

"Our research was able to show that increasing PEDF not only causes Type 2 diabetes like complications but that blocking PEDF reverses these effects. The body again returned to being insulin-sensitive and therefore did not need excess insulin to remain regulated."

Do you think it is just a matter of time for everyone? Is this a cause in only some people? Or do you think that the majority of obese people have some sort of inbuilt PEDF inhibitor (or perhaps conversely that those who are overweight who develop T2D produce a higher than normal level of PEDF?)

Be interested in your thoughts

 

[mcdonagh47]

I know you and I have slightly different opinions about the nature of the relationship between weight and development of T2 (cause vs risk), but in the light of the link you posted I wonder why the vast majority of obese people don't seem to develop diabetes?
Be interested in your thoughts

Have you got any actual proof for the assertion that the "vast majority" of obese people do not develop diabetes ?
If as you argue 14% of Obese people have T2 diabetes at any one time, this suggests the majority of Obese people will end up with T2 if they live long enough.
It would be interesting to see breakdowns of the figures by age and also duration of obesity in relation to diabetes. The obvious hypotheses to test would be that T2 diabetes rises with age in obese people and markedly with duration of an obese diagnosis.
As I pointed out before the 14% isnt static, Obese T2s will,no doubt, die today and be replaced by newly dxed ones. Type 2 Diabetes is a rolling programme running through the Obese community, which will affect huge numbers over time not just the current 14% that have it.
The latest figures I saw for America suggest 1% of slim non-obese, not overweight people will be dxed as T2 this year, 18% of obese people will be dxed and 5.5 % of overweight people will be dxed as T2. Absolutely convincing figures for the links between obesity and overweight and Type 2 diabetes.
You seem to be arguing that obesity isn't a cause/trigger of T2 diabetes because not all obese people have T2. That's just an obvious fallacious non-sequitur. Like arguing that car accidents dont cause fatalities because not everyone who drives a car will die in an car accident.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Sorry. I didn't mean to provoke you, it was a genuine question (I am not trying to persuade you to my viewpoint, merely interested in yours).

Of course I am not saying that there is no link. I do absolutely believe that being overweight increases a person's risk of developing T2, but I see it as an increase in risk, not a cast-iron guarantee of diagnosis now or ever for any one individual overweight (or even obese) person. It's the other triggers/environmental and genetic factors that make it a bit of a fuzzy area in my head. In some the excess fat around organs seems to be the trigger, in others the metabolism seems to break down and their weight increases and then they get diagnosed. In still others weight/diet/lifestyle does not seem to be a contributory factor at all.

I suppose I push against the simplistic a causes b approach not because it does not have a satisfactory statistical basis (after all not all smokers will develop lung cancer, but I am happy enough with the assertion that smoking is a cause of lung cancer) but more because I see it being used as a Big Stick to beat a whole group of people with diabetes (including children with T1) when for some of them 'lifestyle' has nothing to do with their own diabetes. 'It's All Their Own Fault' is a brush that tars many PWDs of all types unjustly, and is entirely unhelpful for everyone else.