Your body mass index may be a bigger risk factor for diabetes than genetics

diabetes may be reversible

New information shows that diabetes may be reversed with proper care. Especially in the early stages.

According to late breaking research presented at ESC Congress 2020, losing weight could prevent or even reverse diabetes.

About 463 million people worldwide had diabetes in 2019, of which type 2 diabetes was the vast majority (about 90 per cent). Diabetes increases the risk of cardiovascular disease from coronary heart attack , stroke and death. Obesity is the primary modifiable cause of type 2 diabetes, although genetic factors may also distinguish individuals who are more likely to develop the disease.

"Since we are born with our genes, it may be possible to predict early in life who has a high risk of developing diabetes during their lifetime," said Professor Brian Ference of the University of Cambridge, UK, and University of Milan , Italy, the principal investigator. "We performed this study to find out whether comparing inherited risk with the current body mass index ( BMI) could classify people at the highest risk of developing diabetes. Inherited risk of diabetes was measured using 6.9 million genes. Participants were divided into five classes based on the genetic risk of diabetes.

Those in the highest BMI category (average 34.5 kg / m2) had an 11-fold increased risk of diabetes compared with those in the lowest BMI category (average 21.7 kg / m2). The highest BMI group was more likely to develop diabetes than any other BMI group , regardless of genetic risk.

"The results suggest that this genetic predisposition is a much more important risk factor for diabetes than BMI," Professor Ference said.

The investigators then used statistical methods to determine whether the probability of diabetes in people with high BMI would be any higher if they were overweight for a long period of time. They found that the length of elevated BMI did not affect the risk of diabetes.

Professor Ference said: "This indicates that when people reach a certain BMI threshold their odds of diabetes go up and remain at the same high-risk level regardless of how long they 're overweight." Professor Ference said: "The results indicate that most cases of diabetes could be prevented by holding BMI below the cut-off that causes excessive blood sugar. This means that both BMI and blood sugar should be measured periodically to avoid diabetes.

This article first appeared on https://medicalxpress.com