The Myth of Obesity & #T2D

Years ago I had heard that roughly 20% of people with diagnosed type 2 diabetes were not obese. At the time I thought this was a very important point that needed to be pointed out to address the bias and discrimination that is tied to a person having a diabetes diagnosis.

As it turns out, this study (1) from 2006 shows that 6% of people with type 2 diabetes aren't even overweight let alone obese. Thirty-four percent (34%) were overweight, 52% were obese, and 8% were morbidly obese.

In other words, 40% of the people with previously diagnosed type 2 diabetes in this study were not obese. And almost as important is the fact that less than 100% of obese people have diabetes.

What this does is provide support for the discussion that diabetes is a disease first and foremost and secondly that being overweight or obese will increase your chances of 'catching' it. This is a key message in my forthcoming book "The Bitter Side of Sugar" where I will explain why this is so important and in much greater detail.

1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2579635/