Weight outweighs genes as diabetes risk factor

[Northerner]

Excess weight is a greater risk factor for diabetes than genes associated with the disease, a large international study has suggested amid an expanding market for genetic tests to predict the risk of diabetes.

The study has found that the cumulative incidence of diabetes is substantially greater in people with the lowest genetic risk who are overweight or obese compared to people who have normal weight but have the highest genetic risk.

“The public health message is that everyone should minimise the risk of diabetes through physical activity and a healthy diet,” said Nicholas Wareham, director of the epidemiology unit at the University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine who led the study.

Wareham and his colleagues tracked more than 340,000 people in eight European countries for over 11 years in the largest study so far to quantify the links between genetic factors and lifestyle factors with the risk of diabetes.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1140522/jsp/nation/story_18368862.jsp#.U34AIPldWAg

 

[Mrs Mad Ronin]

I admit *hands up* that i am obese, not because i eat but because when i was 17 i had a work accident which left me with a severe hip disabilty and as a result my love of fitness, sports and being active became limited. I became depressed and comfort ate. That and pain meds made me balloon, i admit that has not helped with me getting diabetes however as my gp and a consultant once told me (about a month before my accident actually) it was a case of when i got diabetes not if, because not only did my late dad have it, his siblings, parents, grandparents etc all had/have it. It's a big thing in my family. So while i admit my weight hasb't helped it's not the main reason i got it.

So for that reason i say they are just looking for something to blame. As always 🙂 but i do also admit that for some people, it will be more about weight than genes. But not everyones case 🙂

 

[AlisonM]

Does that explain my family then, or not? Many of them have been obese, suffering high cholesterol and high BP, and having strokes all over the place. But, not a single diabetic anywhere... Except me. And, while I'm definitely enormous, I don't have any of the other stuff they had. My Cholesterol is normal and my BP too low rather than too high. I have another few health issues they never had too, the various arthritisusses, the heart murmur, the on again/off again Addison's and pernicious anaemia. Hmm?