Diabetes Risks: Do Your Race And Ethnicity Matter?

It can be worrisome to find out that you have many of the risk factors for diabetes, such as obesity, high stress, or smoking, but all of these risk factors are controllable. When you’re faced with risk factors that are beyond your control you may feel a lot more powerless, but it simply means that you need to take added precautions to safeguard against diabetes. So, one of the most common questions is ‘does race or ethnicity affect diabetes risk?’. Unfortunately, the answer is yes.

Beyond Socio-Cultural Differences

Some of the increased risk of diabetes among racial and ethnic groups may be explained by lifestyle and dietary patterns owing to socio-cultural differences. However, this does not account fully for the increased risk. An analysis that appeared in BMC Medicine suggests that more research is needed to understand the role of genetics and metabolism in different ethnic groups and how this impacts diabetes risk. Research shows variations in the degree of insulin resistance, which may be linked to environmental or genetic factors or both, but we still need more research. 

Although experts believe that there is a genetic component to the risk, there is no specific gene identified to date. 

Measuring The Increased Risk Of Diabetes

Unfortunately, Indians in Asia have the highest risk of diabetes with studies pointing to a prevalence rate of 14.2 percent. People from the Indian sub-continent are not only more vulnerable to the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, but they are also more likely to have difficulties controlling blood sugar levels and are more vulnerable to severe diabetes complications. This can include complications such as kidney disease, loss of vision, and amputation. 

Obesity is a major risk factor for obesity, but it appears that ethnicity can have an even bigger effect. A study that found a notably high prevalence of type 2 diabetes among Indians or South Asians, despite their lower incidence of obesity as compared to Caucasians who had a significantly lower prevalence of diabetes. Epidemiological studies indicate that controllable risk factors are not adequate for such a difference in risk and excessive insulin resistance is seen as a common factor among Asian Indians as compared to Caucasians. 

The reasons for disparities in diabetes risk among different racial and ethnic groups will only become more evident with research. In the meantime, a study that appeared in the Journal of Clinical and Translational Endocrinology pointed out that Asian Indians have the highest age-adjusted prevalence of type 2 diabetes. They suspect that this could be because of ‘susceptibilities for β-cell dysfunction’ among the population. No matter the cause, it’s clear that Indians are at a much higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes earlier in life and must take greater precautions. 

Reducing Your Risk of Type 2 Diabetes

No matter your race or ethnicity, preventive measures remain the same, but you would need to be extra cautious in your efforts to prevent diabetes. This means:

• Getting screened for diabetes regularly
• Maintaining a healthy bodyweight
• Eating a healthy balanced diet dominated by fresh fruits and vegetables, while low in red meats and processed foods
• Staying active as exercise and physical activity can lower your diabetes risk
• Getting stress, anxiety, and depressive disorders under control

Even though your racial group may predispose you to diabetes, this does not mean that the condition is unavoidable. Awareness and action can help you prevent diabetes to live a healthy and fulfilling life.

Reference Links:

1. https://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1741-7015-10-42
2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3830901/
3. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11711326/
4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4811044/