That obesity is more powerful than genetics (in assessing risk of diabetes)
Researchers considered whether obesity combined with inherited risk of diabetes could identify people at the highest risk of developing diabetes
They conducted genetic testing, and measured height and weight of over 445,000 people; participants were followed for 8 years
Results:
–People with the highest BMI had 11 times the risk of diabetes versus the people in the lowest BMI group
–The people with the highest BMI had the highest risk of diabetes, regardless of their genetic risk
–It didn’t matter if the participant had been overweight for a long or a short time –the increased risk of diabetes was the same, regardless
Conclusion: most cases of diabetes could be avoided by keeping BMI below the cut-off that triggers abnormal blood sugar
