Native population in Canada affected by diabetes

In Canada, type 2 diabetes is more likely to affect native people rather than non-natives. Women of childbearing age have been proven by diabetes research to be the most at risk. Furthermore, considerable differences in the patterns of diabetes development can be observed between the two groups.
A University of Saskatchewan expert, Dr. Ronald Dyck, found differences between the age at which the two populations develop diabetes . Natives in Canada are known as First Nations people. The reasons for the differences are not yet entirely clear.
Diabetes amongst First Nations people is a relatively recent phenomeno, with a startling rise in numbers. In 1937, a sample of 1,500 detected not one single case of diabetes . Presently, the diabetes population stands at way over 20 per cent.
The researchers reportedly commented: “what is clear is that the rapid appearance of type 2 diabetes among First Nations people and other indigenous and developing populations has been precipitated by environmental rather than genetic factors.”