Why Americans have larger waists and diabetes
Researchers say the findings offer more evidence that accumulating fat around the mid-section poses a health risk and suggests that studies of diabetes risk should emphasize waist size along with traditional risk factors.
The findings were published online Thursday by the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
A higher rate of diabetes seen among adult Americans when compared to peers in England is explained primarily by a larger waist size rather than conventional risk factors such as obesity, according to a new study by researchers from the RAND Corporation, University College London and the Institute for Fiscal Studies in London.
“Americans carry more fat around their middle sections than the English, and that was the single factor that explained most of the higher rate of diabetes seen in the United States, especially among American women,” said James P. Smith, one of the study’s author and corporate chair of economics at RAND, a nonprofit research organization. “Waist size is the missing new risk factor we should be studying.”
Researchers say that Americans middle-aged and older are significantly more likely to suffer from diabetes compared to their peers in England despite a similar standard of living. About 16 percent of American men report having diabetes as compared to 11 percent of English men. About 14 percent of American women have diabetes, compared to seven percent among English women.
Analyzing studies about the health and lifestyles of large numbers people from the United States and England, researchers found no association between higher diabetes rates in the United States based upon conventional risk factors such as age, smoking, socioeconomic status or body mass index, the commonly used ratio of height and weight that is used to measure obesity and over- weight.
However, American men had waists that averaged three centimeters larger than their English peers and the waists of American women were five centimeters bigger than English women. The study concludes that waist circumference explains a substantial proportion of the higher diabetes rate in America for men and virtually all the higher rate seen among women.
Researchers say there may be many reasons why Americans have larger waists than their English peers. It may be caused by different rates of physical activities through exercise or daily activities, diet differences or perhaps other social and environmental factors such as stress that occur in the United States.
Category: VOICE to HEALTH
