Groundbreaking Asian diabetes trial

A pioneering new study attempts to answer questions regarding ethnic divisions in diabetes development. A research team at the University of Glasgow will attempt to discover why Asian people are four times as likely to develop diabetes when compared to Europeans.
The trial will call for 50 volunteers to be studied. Glasgow uni professor, Naveed Sattar, reportedly commented: “Doctors know that South Asians experience more than four fold higher rates of diabetes, the key question is why?”
Sattar also reportedly raised reasons why South Asians more commonly develop diabetes: “This is likely to be due to differences in their metabolism. For a given body weight, South Asians do carry more body fat than Europeans … but this excess fat does not explain all of their increased risk of developing diabetes. This study will investigate for the first time whether ethnic differences in the ability of muscle to burn fat can help to explain why South Asians have higher rates of diabetes.”
A study of this type could help in targeting those most at risk and developing appropriate research and drugs to combat the disease.