Obesity and diabetics

 Recent studies suggesting that heavier people
with diabetes have lower death rates than
normal weight patients may be a myth. A strong body of research shows that being
overweight or obese puts people at risk for
chronic conditions like heart disease, diabetes,
cancer and even early death. But several small
studies connecting obesity to a protective effect against type 2 diabetes-related death have raised questions about a possible ‘obesity paradox,’ and
whether weight can be a benefit in preventing
progression of the disease. A 2012 study
published in the journal JAMA, for example, studied 2,625 people recently diagnosed with
type 2 diabetes, of which only 12% were normal
weight. But the larger people with diabetes lived
longer than their thinner peers. Why the heavier people lived longer wasn’t clear;
the researchers speculated that genetics, or the
type of fat that certain obese people accumulated
compared to normal weight individuals could be
responsible. But in a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, scientists say that’s unlikely. “We didn’t see this protective
effect at all,” the study’s leader, Diedre Tobias of
the Harvard School of Public Health, told the Associated Press. “The lowest risk was seen in the normal-weight category.” (MORE: ‘Obesity Paradox’: Why Being Thin with Diabetes Is a Dangerous Combo) Tobias and her colleagues looked at 11,427
female nurses and male health professionals who
were diagnosed with diabetes. They were divided
into groups based on their body mass index
(BMI), with those with a BMI over 25 considered
overweight and people with a BMI over 30 considered obese. After 15 years, the scientists
recorded the participants’ death rates and found
that those with BMI in the 22.5 to 25 range,
considered normal weight, had the lowest risk of
diabetes-related death. (MORE: You Can’t Be Fit and Fat) The researchers also looked at subgroups within
the study population and found that for people
younger than 65, their risk of dying from
diabetes rose with weight, and the same trend
was seen among non-smokers (smokers have
higher death rates overall). The findings should dispel the idea that staying
heavy will lower the risk of complications related
to diabetes; the size of the study and the
consistent trend of rising mortality linked to
climbing weight confirm that extra pounds are a
major risk factor for dying from the disease. While being slightly overweight did not
significantly raise the risk of diabetes-related
death, doctors note that once patients start to
put on pounds, it’s hard to keep them off. So the
advice they have been giving patients for years
still holds — to avoid complications from chronic illnesses like diabetes and heart disease, it’s best
to keep BMI down.