PERSONA THEME TRENDS WELL-BEING ISSUES
Non-Obese and Lean Indians Also Prone to Type 2 Diabetes: A Study
NEWSCOPE
RESEARCH
Written by DR. P K MUKHERJEE
C
ontrary to popular belief, not only obese and overweight but also nonobese and lean persons may be prone to type 2 diabetes. A recent study has found that while most diabetics in the West are also overweight and obese, in India nearly 20 to 30 percent suffering from diabetes are non-obese and even some are lean. The incidence of type 2 diabetes has been showing an upward trend in India and elsewhere in the world. This basically arises due to insulin resistance. Increasing obesity and sedentary lifestyle are considered to be main pivotal factors for insulin
resistance and consequent diabetes. However, the new study has busted the myth that increasing obesity alone is the main causative factor. Insulin resistance occurs when the cells in muscles, body fat and liver start resisting the signal that the insulin hormone is trying to send out to get glucose (also known as body sugar, which is the main source of body’s fuel) out of the bloodstream and put it into the cells. Insulin resistance leads to diabetes, which in medical parlance is known as type 2 diabetes mellitus or T2DM. Researchers measured insulin and C-peptide levels of 87 diabetics
(67 men and 20 women). Actually, beta cells in the pancreas that make insulin also release the C-peptide-a polypeptide composing of 31 amino acids. Although C-peptide does not actually affect the blood sugar of a person, the doctors can measure its level to figure out how much insulin the person’s body is making. What made researchers measure the C-peptide levels along with insulin levels in the diabetics under study? This is because C-peptide gets secreted at a more constant rate across time durations as compared to the insulin secretion. Also, C-peptide levels are more stable compared to the insulin levels (its half-life is nearly six
