The Link Between Obesity and Diabetes Mellitus

There is a big relationship between obesity and diabetes, but before talking about this relationship we need first to define diabetes mellitus as it is a group of conditions in which people have too much glucose (sugar) in their blood, due to the body’s inability to use and/or produce the hormone insulin. Insulin normally causes cells to take up glucose as an energy source from the blood.

Diabetes mellitus symptoms may include slow-healing sores, frequent infections, blurred vision, fatigue, frequent urination, increased thirst and unusual hunger accompanied by weight loss.

On the other hand, we can define obesity as it is the accumulation of body fat to the point where it leads to a reduced life expectancy and health problems, which include heart attack, stroke, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and cancer. Obesity is generally associated with a body mass index (BMI, pounds x 703/inches2) of 30 and above.

The International Diabetes Foundation (IDF) says that, obesity and diabetes are the biggest public health challenge of the 21^st century. This can show us how are the obesity and diabetes serious.

In 1999, about 16 million Americans was affected with diabetes mellitus, and in just ten years, 40% was increased. And talking about the obesity in the USA, diabetes rate climbed from 12% to almost 20% during the same short period.

In just last year, diabetes and obesity rates increased 6% and 57%, we can then conclude that every three seconds, someone is diagnosed with diabetes. Specialists said that one in three from the children born in 2000 will eventually develop diabetes. These are really serious facts.

Both obesity and diabetes risk factors are often associated with aging and family history. And the modern life type and sedentary lifestyles also contribute to the development of both diabetes and obesity. As we mentioned, reducing activities and following high energy and high calories diets also lead to obesity, but do these factors also lead to diabetes mellitus?

The link Between Obesity and Diabetes:

Firstly, 80% to 90% of the people who diagnosed with type 2 diabetes are also diagnosed with obesity. These few words show us the link between diabetes and obesity. And knowing what causes diabetes mellitus will allow you to avoid or prevent the diabetes in the future.

In fact, being overweight can cause your body to become resistant to insulin. If you already have diabetes, this means you will need to take even more insulin to get sugar into your cells. And if you don’t have diabetes, the prolonged effects of the insulin resistance can eventually cause you to develop the disease.

Being overweight places extra stress on your body in a variety of ways, including your body’s ability to maintain proper blood glucose levels.

Will Insulin Make You Gain Weight?

Weight gain is common in people who take insulin to treat diabetes mellitus, because the more insulin you use to maintain your blood glucose level, the more glucose is absorbed into your cells, rather than eliminated by your body. The absorbed glucose is stored as fat, which makes you gain weight.