Intended for healthcare professionals

Minerva

Risk factors for type2 diabetes . . . and other stories

BMJ 2020; 369 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m1608 (Published 30 April 2020) Cite this as: BMJ 2020;369:m1608

Obesity and type 2 diabetes

Obesity is the dominant risk factor by far for type 2 diabetes, according to a Danish study that followed 10 000 middle aged people for 15 years. Compared with people of normal weight, those with obesity were almost six times more likely to develop diabetes (Diabetologia doi:10.1007/s00125-020-05140-5). This contrasts with estimates of genetic risk. People with a high score for nearly 200 genetic variants associated with type 2 diabetes were only twice as likely to develop the condition as those with a low score.

Variation in body mass index

A study from the US tries to work out the relative importance of environmental variables and genetic influences on body mass index and reaches a surprising conclusion. Among 7000 young adults who contributed not only detailed information on lifestyle but also samples for genetic analysis, less than 6% of …

View Full Text

Log in

Log in through your institution

Subscribe

* For online subscription