Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes

Obesity

Dipock Barua

PSY 1100-50

Prof. Christiansen

May 1, 2013

Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes

There are millions of people who have diabetes. There seems to be a direct correlation between body mass index (BMI) and suffering from diabetes. The connection is on a cellular level. When one’s body reaches a certain number on the BMI, the chances of having type 2 diabetes increases immensely. In many cases obesity can be avoided.This leads to better health all around, not just helping to prevent diabetes.

According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in 2003-2004 it is indicated that “among adults aged 20 to 39 years, 28.5% are obese while 36.8% of adults aged 40 to 59 years and 31.0% of those aged 60 years or older are obese, defined as a body mass index (BMI) of 30.0 or higher” (Ogden CL, Carroll MD, Curtin LR, et al. 2006). A group of nurses aged 30-55 were observed in a study for 14 years and it was discovered that those with a baseline BMI of >35 were 49 times more likely to become diabetic then those with a baseline of <22. Even women that had an increase of ob BMI from 22.0 to 22.9 were still three times more likely to become diabetic.

Findings were similar when it came to men. A study was conducted from 1986-1992 and it found that health professionals aged from 40-75 with a baseline BMI of >35 were 42 times more likely to become diabetic then those with a baseline BMI of <23 (Wild, Byrne, 2006). The research was conducted mainly on white populations. The male health professionals’ study took place in the U.S. on 529 men. It is unclear the number of nurses who participated in the study or where they were located. Findings show that possibly more accurate than the BMI method is a measuring of waist circumference. A high waist circumference is a good indicator of increased risk of type 2 diabetes.

Now that we have seen some evidence of the correlation between obesity and diabetes we can look at what is happening on a cellular level. We can start with an idea of “thrifty genes” proposed by James V. Neel. These genes help us store fat and glucose in times of starvation. These genes are not so necessary to the US population. These genes combined with the abundance of non-healthy food at our fingertips fuels obesity here. The reason this is a problem is obesity causes excess adipose. Adipose causes more leptin, which is encoded by a “thrifty gene.” The major function of leptin may be to regulate weight for reproduction.

Adipose is thought to communicate with the brain to regulate hormones within the body. Adipose causes the liver to produce cytokine signaling – 3 which impairs the signaling of both leptin and insulin. Adipose also causes peroxisome proliferatior-activatred receptor (SOCS – 3) to be produced because the body stops making leptin. This is a problem because SOCS - 3 causes lipid accumulation.

This is a complex internal process that takes time to occur, but there is strong evidence that the catalyst to this process is a high waist circumference. The idea that someone’s chance of diabetes can be lowered by having a reduced amount of adipose seems possible for most. It is something that most people can control with effort.

References

Lazar, M.A. (2005). How Obesity Causes Diabetes: Not a Tall Tale. Science, New Series, 307(5708), 373-375.

Nguyen, N. T., Nguyen, X.-M. T., Lane, J., &Wang, P. (2010, December 3). Relationship Between Obesity and diabetes in a US Adult Population: Findings from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1999-2006. Retrieved April 11, 2013, from National Center for Biotechnology Information:

Wild, S. H., & Bryne, C. D. (2006). ABC of Obesity: Risk factors for diabetes and coronary heart dease. BMJ: British Medical Journal, 333, 1009-1011.