Obesity, a Major Risk Factor for Diabetes and Other Ills, Targeted by Study

Waistlines are expanding at such an alarming rate across the globe that, if trends hold, almost 58 percent of the world's population will be overweight or obese by 2030, according to researchers at the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.

Epidemiologic studies indicate that obesity and being overweight are important risk factors for diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer and premature death, according to Dr. Jiang He, the Joseph S. Copes Chair and Professor of Epidemiology and Medicine at Tulane.

Almost one-third of the world is already considered overweight or obese, according the Tulane team in "Global Burden of Obesity in 2005 and Projections to 2030," published in the International Journal of Obesity (published online on July 8, 2008).

These alarming global results highlight the urgent need for the World Health Organization and governments to support programs that target maintaining a healthy weight, says He.

For more information on the spreading obesity epidemic and its link to diabetes and other chronic diseases, see: https:// tulane.edu/news/newwave/071408_obesity.cfm?RenderForPrint=1

Consumption of green leafy vegetables and fruit was associated with a lower hazard of type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM), whereas consumption of fruit juices may be associated with an increased hazard of diabetes among women, according to the results of a study reported in the April 4 Online First issue of Diabetes Care.

"Fruit and vegetable consumption has been associated with decreased incidence of and mortality from a variety of health outcomes including obesity, hypertension, and cardiovascular diseases in epidemiologic studies," write Lydia A. Bazzano, MD, PhD, from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans, Louisiana, and colleagues. "However, few prospective studies have examined the relationship between fruit and vegetable intake and risk of DM, and their results are not entirely consistent."

The goal of this study was to determine the association between intake of fruits, vegetables, and fruit juices and the development of type 2 DM in a cohort of 71,346 female nurses, aged 38 to 63 years, who were free of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and DM in 1984.

During follow-up for 18 years in the Nurses' Health Study, a semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) was administered every 4 years, and diagnosis of DM was self-reported.

The prevalence of diabetes is increasing worldwide. Insulin resistance and diabetes mellitus are major predictors of cardiovascular ischaemic disease. Other risk factors for cardiovascular death including hypertension, dyslipidaemia, smoking and visceral obesity are especially lethal in diabetics. C-reactive protein, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1, matrix metalloproteinases and other emerging risk factors and their roles are continually being researched and discovered.