Risk of diabetes reduced for Latinos shown by new study in the US

Wed, 21 Dec 2011
A new study by scientists at the University of Massachusetts Medical School has claimed that pre-diabetes indicators can be reduced in the Latino population at risk of developing diabetes in the United States. The risk reduction was due to a prevention programme developed by the researchers in a three-year clinical trial on over 300 participants.

The Lawrence Latino Diabetes Prevention Project, details of which were published in the American Journal of Public Health, combined a range of community groups to use nutrition, weight control and exercise programmes with local Latinos at risk from type 2 diabetes. The aim of the project was to identify the value of community-based, literacy sensitive and culturally tailored lifestyle intervention for poor Spanish-speaking Latinos that are at an increased risk of developing the metabolic condition.

The study showed that the participants who took part in the intervention programme experienced a small but significant weight reduction and clinically meaningful reduction in indicators for pre-diabetes, such as insulin resistance, as compared with those who had the usual care or no intervention.

Researcher Milagros Rosal commented "The study results are important as they suggest that small reductions in weight may reduce the risk of diabetes in some ethnic populations that have a high risk for developing diabetes, such as disadvantaged Latinos."

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