Why the rate of black people getting diabetes is higher than the rate of white people getting it?

Question

5.3 whites every 100
6.8 balcks every 100

any ideas???

Answer 1

For nearly 40 years it has been common knowledge and generally accepted fact that certain minority groups have had a gene that made them predisposed to the awful disease of diabetes.

Just recently it was announced that a group of Australian and U.S. researchers are close to dispelling the myth. The findings are published in the spring issue of the journal 'Perspectives in Biology and Medicine'.

"Our study challenges the presumption that Native American, Mexican American, African American, Australian Aborigine, or other indigenous groups are genetically prone to diabetes because the evidence demonstrates that higher rates of diabetes across population groups can be explained by non-genetic factors alone." said Michael Montoya an Anthropologist at UC Irvine.

"When it comes to diabetes, we’re finding that genes are no more important for ethnic minorities than for anyone else," said Stephanie Fullerton, a population geneticist and bio-ethicist at the University of Washington and co-author of the study.

The study goes on to point out that in most of the previous studies on contributing genes to diabetes inadequate controls were in place for things such as social and environmental factors. Examples were poverty, housing segregation, and poor diet.

There will be more on this study in the future I am sure-for now what does it mean? Well there are two types of contributing factors for diabetes: Controllable and Uncontrollable. Genetic predisposition is in the Uncontrollable column. Diet and lifestyle are in the controllable.

I humbly submit that this is huge news for those minorities who might have felt that getting diabetes was part of their heritage and something they had to live with. NOT SO!!! If you can control this terrible disease it will only put a dent in your life not ruin it.

Answer 2

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Answer 3

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Answer 4

Plain ol' genetics.
A lot also has to do with lifestyle.
This is by no means a generalization. Where I live (eastern NC), a LOT of African American's have the deadly trio- High blood pressure, diabetes, and these lead to the third part, end stage renal disease. A large part is genetic, another part lifestyle (believing that a fingerstick of 300 is "not that bad" and that checking a blood sugar once every week or two is ok) plus diet (fried foods and sweet sweet tea), and another part is lack of education (or apathy to education attempted).
That being said, we see the same apathy and mis-education in white people as we do black.

Answer 5

Hispanic, black and Asian people are more susceptible to developing diabetes, according to numerous studies . Age-adjusted diabetes risk indicates that black people have 120 per cent greater risk, Hispanics 76 per cent greater and Asian people 43 per cent greater than whites. According to a new study, these minorities can slash their diabetes risk through eating better diets .

The findings are published in leading journal Diabetes Care. The study confirms greater susceptibility amongst minority populations. However, three new facts have been brought to light by the research. BMI does not fully explain the racial gap in diabetes risk. Furthermore, a healthy diet has more impact on diabetes risk amongst minorities than it does for whites. Lastly, weight gain amongst Asians is a particularly strong risk factor.

Researchers used info from the Nurses’ Health Study, an enormous long-term collection of data . The team adjusted for age, weight and other factors. The team drew a number of conclusions about diabetes and ethnicity. They report that: "In conclusion, after accounting for BMI, our study indicates that Asians, Hispanics, and blacks were all at higher risk for type 2 diabetes than whites."

Speaking on diet, the time reported: "These results suggest that dietary intervention may be particularly effective for diabetes prevention among minorities, although this hypothesis needs to be tested in future studies."

Answer 6

That really doesn't seem like that great of a discrepency to me, however, it may be based on both genetic and environmental factors working together. My guess as to the environmental factors that might contribute to this higher rate would be a poorer, less nutritious diet, perhaps due in part to the fact that the poverty rate is greater for blacks than whites. If you can't afford to eat whole, nutritious foods on a regular basis, that's going to have an impact on your whole body, including the pancreas.

That's just my guess.

Answer 7

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Answer 8

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Answer 9

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Answer 10

I didn't know that. I thought Native Americans were the only one's getting it more than white people. hmmm, now I do.