DOC News September 1, 2005
Volume 2 Number 9 p. 16
© 2005 American Diabetes Association
Weight Change and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes
Gaining weight increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes—even
if a person starts out lean and remains within normal limits, according to a
new report. What matters, researchers say, is the weight gain itself, not the
body mass index (BMI) with which a person ends up.
Investigators did a prospective study of 20,187 male alumni from Harvard
University and the University of Pennsylvania. All participants had their
height and weight measured when they entered the universities, at an average
age of 18.5 years, and again in 1962 or 1966, when the men were an average age
of 45.9 years. Participants were followed for the development of type 2
diabetes until 1998.
Analysis showed that weight gain significantly increased the risk of type 2
diabetes, which rose directly along with BMI. A gain of 1–1.5 units in
BMI more than doubled the risk of diabetes, while a gain of >3 BMI units
raised the risk of diabetes sevenfold.
The increased risk of diabetes remained, even for those who started out
quite lean, with a BMI of <21. People at the low end of a healthy BMI may
believe mistakenly that they can gain weight and avoid risk if they remain
within the normal range. This study suggests that isn't true.
"A low initial BMI does not ameliorate the increase in risk of type 2
diabetes," researchers conclude. "Avoidance of weight gain, even
among lean individuals, is important to reduce the risk of this
disease."
Oguma Y, Sesso HD, Paffenbarger RS, et al.: Weight change
and risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Obes Res 13: 945–951, 2005.[Medline]
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