Question about diabetes

[Liz Hill]

Dear Monika,

Rates of obesity are higher in Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans than in
Cubans, so I would image this could be a variable.  If are not already
familiar with the resource, I would recommend 'Diabetes in Hispanic
Americans' from NIDDK, available online at:
http://www.niddk.nih.gov/health/diabetes/pubs/hispan/hispan.htm#b.  

The following is an excerpt from this resource explains another variable:

"Having American Indian or African genes (populations with a high prevalence
of diabetes) is also thought to be a factor that causes the higher rates of
diabetes in Hispanics. Hispanics, like all populations, inherit their
susceptibility to diabetes from their ancestors. Hispanics have three groups
of ancestors--Spaniards, American Indians, and Africans. Both American
Indians and Africans have high rates of diabetes. Figure 2 shows the genetic
origins of major Hispanic subgroups. 9 

Although Cuban Americans have both American Indian and African ancestry,
neither of these genetic roots contributes more than 20 percent to the
current Cuban American gene pool. This may partly explain why Cuban
Americans have a higher prevalence of type 2 diabetes than non-Hispanic
white Americans, although not as high as the other Hispanic groups."


Regards, 

Liz Hill, RD 
Nutrition Information Specialist 
Food and Nutrition Information Center 
USDA/National Agricultural Library 
Beltsville,  MD  20705-2351 
email:   lhill at nal.usda.gov 
webpage: http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/ 
phone:  (301) 504-6415 


-----Original Message-----
From: THECOUCH at aol.com [mailto:THECOUCH at aol.com] 
Sent: Thursday, March 07, 2002 7:16 PM
To: Public Health Nutrition Discussion and Information Group
Subject: Question about diabetes

Hello colleagues,

I was looking at some statistics on diabetes incidence in the Hispanic 
population.  Apparently the highest incidence is in the Mexican and Puerto 
Rican sectors and the lowest is in the Cuban sector.  

I am curious, why are Cubans so much less likely to develop diabetes than 
their counterparts in other Latino cultures?

Regards,

Monika M. Woolsey, MS, RD
http://www.afterthediet.com