A Population Perspective on Diabetes Prevention: Who Do We Target?

Preventing the entire population from gaining, on average, 1 BMI unit would result in a reduction in incidence of type 2 diabetes 13.0%.

A study was done with the object to examine the influence of obesity and prevention of weight gain on the incidence of type 2 diabetes.
We examined participants in the San Antonio Heart Study, a prospective population-based study of Mexican Americans and non-Hispanic whites residing in San Antonio, Texas. BMI was stratified into four categories: normal (<25 kg/m2), overweight (=25 kg/m2 and <30 kg/m2), obese (=30 kg/m2 and <35 kg/m2), and very obese (=35 kg/m2). The number and proportion of incident cases prevented by targeting each BMI category were estimated. In addition, we calculated the decrease in risk of developing type 2 diabetes associated with weight gain prevention across both the BMI and age spectra.

We discovered that preventing normal individuals from becoming overweight would result in the greatest reduction in incidence of type 2 diabetes. This would result in a 62 and 74% reduction in the incidence of type 2 diabetes in Mexican Americans and non-Hispanic whites, respectively. Preventing the entire population from gaining, on average, 1 BMI unit would result in a reduction in incidence of type 2 diabetes of 12.4 and 13.0% in Mexican Americans and non-Hispanic whites, respectively.

From the results it was concluded that the majority of cases of type 2 diabetes were in individuals who were overweight or mildly obese with a family history of type 2 diabetes. Public health resources should be directed toward the prevention of weight gain among normal and overweight individuals in order to prevent the maximum number of cases of type 2 diabetes. Diabetes Care 26:1999-2004, 2003

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Did YOU KNOW:
A new survey has shown that 96 per cent do not know that 6 grams of salt is the maximum recommended daily allowance. The average daily intake in the UK is 9 grams – which can cause high blood pressure and lead to heart disease and stroke. The survey also revealed that, although people have been warned about the amount of “hidden” salt in processed foods, 78 per cent are still adding more salt during cooking or at the table with 29 per cent doing both. Also 68% could not answer the question, what is a good blood pressure. When asked what could cause high blood pressure, 64 per cent wrongly cited stress and anxiety as the main causes while only 11 per cent gave salt as their answer – one of the major contributory factors. Research by the British Heart Foundation (BHF)

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