Migration linked to diabetes

According to studies in Australia, many migrants into the country are at risk of type 2 diabetes, and are more likely to suffer from the disease than Australian-born people, even if they are naturally slimmer.
A new diabetes awareness campaign in the country is trying to get new Australians to examine their waistlines, and work out if they are at risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
The issues will be discussed at the Diabetes Futures Forum which is to be held in Canberra today. Paul Zimmet, the director of the International Diabetes Institute, took a survey of 11,000 immigrants and examined the effect of the move on their health.
Zimmet reportedly commented: “There are certain communities that have a higher hereditary susceptibility to diabetes. But all you do is you inherit the susceptibility to diabetes. It’s environment that actually precipitates the disease. In many of these people, the change to a more Western lifestyle of diet and physical activity – or less physical activity – seems to bring out the diabetes in those susceptible people.”