Daily Mail Article

About 90% of type 2 diabetics are overweight. As obesity levels have soared so have the number of people with diabetes. In contries such as Japan type 2 diabetes was almost unknown unti they started eating Western junk food.

According to the article below the amount of sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) could determine whether a person developes diabetes type 2, or not, and may be a reason that some people who are obese develope diabetes and other people who are obese do not. Not everyone diagnosed with type 2 diabetes is obese, either. I don't mind telling people I have diabetes because I am thin and people looked amazed but if I was overweight then I would keep quiet because the media etc makes people with diabetes feel like leppers although it isn't contagious, of course. You never know some that think they won't develope diabetes could have low levels of SHBG and be in for a shock.

http://diabetes.webmd.com/news/20090916 ... betes-risk

Type 2 diabetes is NOTcaused by being overweight, being overweight is caused by having type 2 diabetes. I too am sick to death of this attitude that depicts us as being lazy, greedy people, I was made to feel like it was all my fault because I am overweight. BUT for over 5 years I was going up and down to the surgery, worried because I was piling on weight, I was not overweight to start with, I went to the doctor with symptoms of thirst, thrush, oedema, heart palpitations, my diabetes was discovered by a rheumatologist, who just ordered a diabetes blood test. If my doctors had done their job properly, type 2 diabetes could have been avoided. I am angry about this, because now I have type 2 I am blamed.
And it doesnt matter what country youre from, it doesnt matter that Japan has a growing diabetes problem, being fat does not cause type 2 diabetes. having type 2 diabetes causes people to be fat.

I always feel ashamed to say I have diabetes, because I have the typical big belly, its media attitude and the attitude of so called professionals like NHS direct.

I tried to get help and I was ignored, because I was ignored I ended up with Type 2 diabetes.

Yes,seems that this is a common attitude,i was not overweight,didn't have any of the recognised symptoms, don't eat junk food ,just occasional burger or KFC. I am not ashamed to say i am type 2 as although i have a bit of a belly,i have never had a flat belly even when i was 10 stone and nearly 6' and 14 years of age,a long time ago. just because i have a fault with metabolism doesn't mean i will accept criticism for actually having it.Some people may have got Diabetes from a poor diet and lack of exercise but i certainly didn't as i have always been active with physically demanding jobs so how did i get to be Type 2? Trouble is press gets hold of a story, links it up with the feckless welfare classes ( sic ) and immigration because all these fit young blokes coming into UK go straight on benefits so as Mail is ' pro Tory' , it is a useful tool to beat up the current Govt ( ? ) with. the trouble is the genuine cases get tarred with same brush. As Diabetic meds are the biggest proportion of NHS bill currently, we diabetics will be blamed again in the press with people calling for us to be refused treatment as IT is our FAULT !! and don't the press love hyping these stories up with no factual content to base it on, after all they don't apologise if they get it wrong do they?
Perhaps all diabetics should write to their 'letters'page and inundate their offices with piles of mail and see what they think then, lol

I think thats an excellent idea.

If you check out Diabetes UK information and advice, they have the same attitude. They too say that diabetes is caused by obesity/overweight.. Why would anyone listen to us who know better when the top "charity" in the country say the same as the media

I agree the media should highlight the genetic risk factors so as not to stigmatise type 2s.

However maybe there are some environmental factors that should also be taken into account....

http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/2007/ ... belly.html