Asian diabetes and obesity

Fri, 10 Jul 2009
According to international diabetes news today, the threshold for being considered overweight and obese should be lowered for Asian people . People of South Asian origin are more likely to develop diabetes and heart disease .

Doctors in the UK agree that a new system is required, as current standards to measure obesity and being overweight are currently based on data from Caucasians. The Body Mass Index limit for Asian people has been lowered to 23, from 25. Lower thresholds for waist circumference should also be added.

The move could lead to tens of millions more people being classified as being overweight or obese, and could lead to a huge increase in diabetes diagnoses .

The new measures have been introduced in India, and should be applied anywhere. Dr. Anoop Misra reportedly commented: "They should be followed for South Asians - Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Nepalis - they are almost similar. So for the time being, until guidelines for other population groups are available, I think this should be applicable for all south Asians - not only in the UK, but in any country of the world."

The changes could lead to many people making essential lifestyle modifications to evade type 2 diabetes development .

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