Obesity accelerates risk of diabetes

Bristol, November 3: The obesity epidemic is being blamed for rapid increase in diabetes cases. The alarming trend has struck hard in the South and the figures are truly alarming, warn the researchers.

According to the first state-by-state review of latest diagnoses of diabetes, the worst hit was West Virginia, where nearly 13 in 1000 adults were diagnosed with the disease in 2005-07, while Minnesota had lowest rates of 5 per 1000 adults.

Nationally, the number of new cases soared from 5 per 1000 adults in mid-1990s to 9 per 1000 in the middle of this decade.

With more than 23 million Americans registered as diabetics, the disease was the seventh leading cause of death in the nation in 2006, according to the Centre for Disease Control, and the figures are rising.

Nearly 1.6 million new cases were diagnosed among adults last year. As the study was based on the number of diagnosed patients only, the situation might be more threatening because nearly 1 in 4 diabetics remain undiagnosed due to lack of awareness and poor access to health care down rural South, said Angela Liese, a diabetes researcher at the University of South Carolina.

The findings reveal that there is no getting away from the fact that the crisis of diabetes is being fuelled by the rate of obesity and the lack of exercise in the Americans, especially with 90 percent of the new cases being Type 2 diabetesdefine, which is strongly linked to obesity and lifestyle factors including inactivity and poor eating habits.

The study’s author, Karen Kirtland, hopes the findings will initiate the necessary prevention steps by the government and health insurance companies to safeguard the nation’s health.

“These findings affirm previous projections that diabetes will continue to be a major public health problem," the CDC said.

Putting in half an hour of moderate exercise at least five days a week together with a balanced diet can reduce the risk of diabetes incidence.

Nearly 260,000 adults in 33 states formed part of the random-phone survey wherein participants were asked if they were ever diagnosed with diabetes, and when the diagnosis was made.

Amid multiple health problems being faced by the nation, obesity and diabetes are the cause of increased concern for the health of United States citizens. Over the last two decades, the number of diabetes cases has sky-rocketed in the country.

Seniors, blacks and Hispanics are the most vulnerable to type 2 diabetes, reveals the study.