Obesity and Diabetes Risk

Obesity and diabetes risk

Research Question

One of the increasing health problems in the world is obesity, it is a body condition whereby one has excess body fat in an extent that it can affect on health which will either increase health problems, or reduce life expectancy. A person is usually said to be obese if their BMI exceeds 30kg/m2 (Al- Rikabi A et al 2005). Being overweight or obese increases a person's risk of developing diabetes. Development of diabetes is also great when we get old because according to experts they say that when people get older they tend to become less active physically and put on weight thus posing the risk of being diabetic. Obesity is a significant cause of diabetes. This is a metabolic disease whereby a person has greater levels of blood sugar. This condition can be caused by lack of sufficient production of insulin, or due to lack of response of the body cells to insulin properly.

There are a number of reasons that have resulted in an increase in diabetes, it may occur as a result of family history, ethnic region, genetic disposition and so on. However a major cause of increased risk of diabetes is found in people who are overweight or as a result of obesity. The research would therefore focus on the relationship between obesity and type 2 diabetes that occur as a result of obesity. Diabetes usually results due to lack of insulin. This is the hormone that stimulates the cells to take glucose from the bloodstream. The type of diabetes that is caused by obesity is type 2 diabetes. Obesity is commonly caused by the combination of excessive intake of food energy, genetic susceptibility, and lack of physical activity. A major risk of type 2 diabetes is Obesity. Type 2 diabetes usually results due to interplay between the environmental and genetic factors. The related traits of obesity such as BMI and the waist circumference are usually associated with type 2 diabetes. Due to the increase in obesity, it has contributed to the rise of type 2 diabetes in the last two decades. It is not true that all individuals with obesity have type 2 diabetes and vice versa (Haffner, S 1998).

Type 2 diabetes is usually characterized by impaired insulin secretion and insulin resistance. Obesity is considered to be a significant factor that results in development of insulin resistance. This condition normally occurs when the body cannot use the insulin which is being produced, and this is the condition referred to as insulin resistance. The pancreas then compensates for the resistance by producing much of the insulin. As there is persistence in insulin resistance, the pancreas is no longer able to produce more insulin to put up with the increased demand (Al- Rikabi A et al 2005). Eventually the pancreas shut down the production of insulin which results to type 2 diabetes. The cells in the body of a person, who is overweight, are usually less sensitive to ...