Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes - 5/9/07

Dr. Mitchell Lazar
University of Pennsylvania

Dr. Lazar discusses the increasing prevalence of diabetes and obesity. Currently, approximately 18 million people in the United States (6.2% of the population) have diabetes. The rate is even higher among the elderly, Hispanics, Native Americans, and African Americans. Diabetes currently costs the nation $132 billion a year. The Centers for Disease Control has projected that one out of three children born in the United States in the year 2000 will develop diabetes in his/her lifetime. Most of the increase in diabetes is related to an increase in obesity; 58 million people in the U.S. are now considered obese.

Both diabetes and obesity are complex diseases tied to genetic and environmental factors. Environmental factors include increased access to low-cost, high-caloric foods, as well as decreased physical activity. These environmental—and genetic—factors have devastating effects on metabolic pathways controlling body fat, blood sugar, and cardiovascular health. Basic and translational research has begun to shed light on the ways by which metabolic pathways are influenced by genes and environment. And we are on the verge of major breakthroughs in recognizing the gene–environment interactions that underlie obesity.