Study sheds light on diabetes risk

Overweight people with a large waist are as likely to develop type 2 diabetes in later life as those who are obese, according to an international study Wednesday. Researchers say that while people who are overweight but "pear-shaped" have a relatively low risk of the disease, those who carry the extra pounds around their waist run similar risks as those who are seriously overweight. Waist sizes of more than 102cm or 40in in men and bigger than 88cm or 34in in women are classed as large. Dr Claudia Langenberg, from the Medical Research Council (MRC) epidemiology unit in Cambridge, which led the study, said "Type 2 diabetes is a serious and increasingly common disease. "More than a third of the UK adult population is overweight and at increased risk of diabetes, but they are not systematically monitored for this risk. "Our findings suggest that if their waist circumference is large, they are just as likely to develop the condition as if they were obese. "We do not suggest replacing BMI as a core health indicator, but our results show that measuring waist size in overweight patients allows doctors to 'zoom in' on this large population group and identify those at highest risk of diabetes. "These people can then be offered lifestyle advice, which can reduce their risk of developing the disease." Type 2 diabetes is a chronic condition which occurs when the body fails to produce enough of the hormone insulin, which controls blood sugar levels, or when the body's cells do not react properly to insulin. The study followed more than 340,000 people from eight European countries. While the exact causes of type 2 diabetes are not fully understood, being overweight or obese is the most important modifiable risk factor. Researchers looked at data, funded from the EU-funded InterAct Study, from 12,403 cases of the disease. They found that 7 percent of men and 4.4 percent of women who were overweight, with a body mass index between 25 and 29.9kg/m2, and had a large waist, went on to develop diabetes within 10 years. This risk was equivalent to, or in some cases higher than, obese participants (BMI above 30). Risk was much lower in normal-weight participants who had a small waist, with only 1.2 percent of men and 0.6 percent of women in this group developing diabetes over the same time period. Those who were overweight but had a small waist - the so-called "pear-shapes" - were also at relatively low risk from the disease. Obese women (BMI above 35) with a large waist were almost 32 times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than lean women (BMI 18.5-22.4) with a small waist.