Obesity Helps Drive Half of New Diabetes Cases

“This requires policy-level changes, too,” Khan said, pointing to examples such as soda taxes and efforts to make fruits and vegetables more accessible in low-income neighborhoods.

The findings, published Feb. 10 in the Journal of the American Heart Association, are based on two large, ongoing studies tracking Americans’ health and lifestyle habits.

One followed middle-aged and older adults for a decade, finding that almost 12% developed type 2 diabetes during that time. The odds were much higher among obese participants: 20% were diagnosed with diabetes, versus 7% of other adults.

The other data source was the federal government’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which periodically collects health information from a nationally representative sample of Americans.

Putting the two studies together, Khan’s team calculated the number of new diabetes cases that could be attributed to obesity.

By the end of the study period — 2013-2016 — an estimated 53% of diabetes diagnoses could be tied to obesity.

The effects were not uniform, however. Obesity had the biggest impact on white women’s diabetes risk, and a lesser one for Black and Hispanic Americans.

That does not mean obesity was unimportant for them, Khan stressed. But, she said, other factors — from difficulty getting health care to daily stress to structural racism — may also be critical in minorities’ type 2 diabetes risk.

The good news is the studies have left “no question” that lifestyle measures can cut the risk of diabetes, said Katherine O’Neal, an associate professor at the University of Oklahoma College of Pharmacy.

And for people who are obese, even a modest amount of weight loss brings benefits, said O’Neal, who is also a spokesperson for the Association of Diabetes Care and Education Specialists.

The key is sustainability. “The most important factor is that these changes need to be a lifestyle, and not temporary changes,” O’Neal said.

Support from not only health care providers, but family and friends, goes a long way, she added.

For low-income people, O’Neal said community health clinics and churches can be resources for information and motivation.

Exercise, she stressed, does not have to involve a gym: Running in place, using canned food as weights, and parking far from the grocery store entrance — walking to it, then taking a couple of laps around it — are some simple ways to fit activity into the day.