Obesity Is the Main Contributor to Diabetes in Blacks and Whites

Source: The New York Times

Type 2 diabetes is almost twice as common in African-Americans as it is in whites. Obesity, rather than racial factors, is to blame, a new study in JAMA reports.

Researchers began with 4,251 black and white men and women ages 18 to 30 who were not diabetic. They then followed up with periodic interviews and health examinations over an average of 25 years. Compared to whites, black men were 67 percent more likely, and black women almost three times as likely, to develop diabetes.