Obesity Epidemic Fuels Diabetic Increase in U.S.

Statistics show that more than one-third of the U.S. adult population is obese, according to estimates provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).

Furthermore, researchers believe that the obesity epidemic is one of the driving forces behind the rising rates of type 2 diabetes throughout the country--a health issue that's marked by insulin resistance.

For their findings, researchers analyzed data from five national surveys spanning from 1976 through 2010 to determine how much the increase in diabetes over time could explain certain factors such as changing distribution of race, age and obesity.

The study results revealed that the prevalence of diabetes in men rose from about five percent to more than 11 percent, while women experienced a three percent increase from six to nine percent.

Throughout many of the factors contributing to the disease, researchers found that about half of the increase was explained by obesity.

"Overweight and obesity explained most of the increase in the prevalence of diabetes in the U.S. during this time period," said study researcher Andy Menke, an epidemiologist with Social & Scientific Systems, a private research organization, in a news release.

However, other factors did contribute to the health issue--including age, race and ethnicity. Yet they had much smaller influences than diet and weight.

More information regarding the findings can be seen via the Annals of Internal Medicine.