Weight Loss May Help Prevent Diabetes

Dec, 2020 - By WMR

The research suggests that BMI is a much more potent risk factor for diabetes with a genetic tendency.

In the United States, the estimated number of people over 18 years of age with diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes is 30.2 million. The management of the condition depends on the type. The overweight person does not have symptoms of all types of diabetes. Now, according to new research, weight loss may help prevent or even reverse diabetes. The research was presented on August 31 at ESC Congress 2020. In 2019, around 463 million individuals across the world had diabetes, of which around 90% of people had type 2 diabetes. Diabetes doubles the risk of stroke, coronary heart disease, and death from cardiovascular disease.

Obesity is the main variable cause of type 2 diabetes. During this research, the researchers recruited around 445,765 individuals of the United Kingdom Biobank. Around 54% were women and the average age was 57.2 years. Using around 6.9 million genes, the team assessed the risk of diabetes. Moreover, the researchers measured the weight and height of the participants at the time of enrollment to calculate body mass index (BMI) in kg/m2. The team then divided them into five groups according to BMI and the risk of diabetes.

Participants were followed up to an average age of 65.2 years. Around 31,298 individuals developed type 2 diabetes during that period. The researchers found that individuals from the highest BMI group are at higher risk (around 11 times) of diabetes than those in the lowest BMI group. The highest BMI group was more likely to develop diabetes compared to the other BMI groups. The research suggests that BMI is a much more potent risk factor for diabetes with a genetic tendency. Moreover, the team used statistical methods to examine whether individuals with high BMI are at higher risk of developing diabetes if they remain overweight for a long period.