[ad_1]
Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body does not produce enough insulin to control blood sugar. High blood sugar levels can pose a number of serious health risks, such as heart disease or stroke. Fortunately, the disease is closely related to diet and exercise – factors that can be treated. One study, however, reveals a more complicated badociation.
Concerns about the impact of climate change on public health tend to focus on extreme weather events – images of destroyed communities proliferate online and in the 24-hour news cycle. Research published in the journal BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care, however, suggest a more pernicious link with public health.
The study found that between 1996 and 2009, the prevalence of diabetes also increased with the increase in outdoor temperature across the United States. "However, we were surprised by the magnitude of the magnitude of the effect," said Lisanne Blauw, a researcher at the Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands and lead author. of the study.
Blauw added: "We have calculated that a rise of one degree Celsius in ambient temperature could represent more than 100,000 new cases of diabetes each year in the United States," she said. "Future research on the effects of global warming on our health status is therefore of great importance."
It is important to remember that correlation is not a causal link. Other risk factors play a bigger role, said Dr. Adrian Vella, an endocrinologist who studied type 2 diabetes at the Mayo Clinic: "I think calorie consumption and weight are probably the most important more important one kilometer to the countryside. "
Commenting on the results, Vella said, "I think the general message should always be that badociation studies do not really involve causation."
For this study, researchers badyzed data on the incidence of type 2 diabetes in the United States, including the territories of Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, between 1996 and 2009. The data come from the CDC's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.
The researchers also badyzed data on the average annual temperature by state using data from national environmental information centers.
Global data was also badyzed. Information on fasting blood glucose levels and obesity have been collected in the online database of the World Health Observatory of the World Health Organization.
The researchers found that for every degree Celsius increase in outdoor temperature, there was an increase of about 4% in the total incidence of diabetes in the United States between 1996 and 2009, a declared Blauw. An increase of one degree Celsius equates to an increase of 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit on the Fahrenheit temperature scale.
The researchers found that the prevalence of glucose intolerance in the world increased by 0.17% per increase of one degree Celsius.
"To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to evaluate the badociation between outdoor temperature and the incidence of diabetes and the prevalence of fasting glucose increase at the national and global levels." ", wrote the researchers.
Although further research is needed to determine why and how this correlation exists, the study hypothesized that cooler temperatures may activate a type of body fat called brown fat or brown fat.
"The function of brown adipose tissue is to burn fat tissue to generate heat, which is important to prevent a drop in body temperature during cold exposure. hypothesis that brown adipose tissue plays a role in the mechanism underlying the badociation between outdoor temperature and diabetes, "said Blauw. "In warmer climates, brown fat may be less activated, which can lead to insulin resistance and diabetes."
On the other hand, Vella said that brown fat does not have much of an impact on the metabolism in humans.
"In humans, brown adipose tissue probably accounts for about 1% or 2% of energy expenditure in cold weather, and chills, so much more, it's an exaggeration," he said.
"Between 1996 and 2009, I think the environment has changed," he added. "Many things have changed that could change the impact of diabetes, no?" The actual composition of the population has changed a bit, the caloric intake of this population has probably changed, we do not know about physical activity. . "
Source link
