Does Obesity Cause Diabetes?
Obesity is a significant risk factor for type 2 diabetes, but it does not directly cause the disease. Excess body fat, especially around the abdomen, can lead to insulin resistance, where the body’s cells become less responsive to insulin.
Over time, this can result in elevated blood sugar levels and the development of diabetes. However, genetics, lifestyle factors, and other health conditions also play a role in determining an individual’s risk.
Diabetes: What is it?
Diabetes is a long-term illness that causes blood sugar levels to be higher than usual. Type 1, type 2, and gestational diabetes are the three primary forms of the disease. Pregnant women without a history of diabetes may develop gestational diabetes, which usually goes away after giving birth.
Your body stops producing insulin if you have type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune condition. Insulin injections are the mainstay of treatment for type 1 diabetes. Up to 95% of diabetics are thought to have type 2 diabetes, which is the most prevalent kind. Insulin resistance and inadequate insulin synthesis are the causes of type 2 diabetes.
When your cells stop responding to insulin, you have insulin resistance, resulting in excess blood sugar. Risk factors for type 2 diabetes include prediabetes, being overweight, being 45 years of age or older, having a parent, brother, or sister with type 2, not exercising, and having a history of gestational diabetes.
How does Obesity cause Diabetes?
Obesity and excess weight are major risk factors for type 2 diabetes. The risk of type 2 diabetes is closely correlated with an increase in weight or body mass index. Insulin resistance, beta cell dysfunction, and other metabolic problems are triggered by excess body fat. Although the precise processes by which obesity leads to diabetes are not entirely understood, it is hypothesized that obesity affects the function of beta cells and insulin.
One hormone that helps cells absorb glucose from the circulation is insulin. One of the main causes of type 2 diabetes in obesity is insulin resistance. Inadequate oxygen delivery and elevated oxygen demand in fat cells, a rise in proinflammatory immune cells, a drop in insulin-sensitizing hormone, an increase in free fatty acids entering the bloodstream, and changes to particular microRNAs produced by adipose tissue macrophages are some of the ways that increased fat tissue leads to insulin resistance.
Insulin is produced and secreted by the pancreatic beta cells. The rate at which beta cells secrete insulin is greater in obese individuals without type 2 diabetes than in lean individuals. Enough insulin can be produced by the higher secretion rate to offset insulin resistance and return the blood sugar level to normal. Type 2 diabetes develops as the beta cells’ ability to regulate blood sugar deteriorates over time. Furthermore, it is hypothesized that the body’s elevated levels of plasma-free fatty acids have a role in beta cell malfunction and death.
How do diabetes and obesity relate to each other?
Type 2 diabetes and obesity are linked in several ways.
Years of insulin resistance, in which your body fails to correctly digest insulin, a hormone that controls your blood sugar (blood glucose) levels, are frequently followed by the development of type 2 diabetes. Insulin resistance frequently leads to the development of prediabetes. Over 80% of individuals with prediabetes are unaware that they have the condition.
One of the biggest risk factors for the onset of metabolic disorders, such as type 2 diabetes and prediabetes, is obesity. This is because being obese makes it harder for your body to naturally use insulin to control blood sugar since it desensitizes your body to its effects.
This does not imply that type 2 diabetes raises your risk of obesity or that all occurrences of obesity directly cause type 2 diabetes.
Obesity, however, increases the risk of type 2 diabetes. According to research, 80–90% of persons with type 2 diabetes are also obese or overweight.
Does type 1 diabetes have a connection to obesity?
Type 1 diabetes does not develop because of obesity.
As an autoimmune condition, type 1 diabetes differs from type 2 in that it impairs insulin production by causing your immune system to target and kill your beta cells.
Insulin resistance can gradually develop in people with type 1 diabetes, particularly if they are also overweight or obese. In actuality, individuals who are overweight or obese have the same prevalence of type 1 diabetes as the overall population.
Although diet plays a significant role in the management of type 1 diabetes, a person’s dietary choices neither cause nor contribute to the onset of the condition. The risk of type 2 diabetes, however, may be raised by dietary and lifestyle choices.
How can diabetes result from obesity?
Excess body fat seems to have a significant role in inflammation, which can result in type 2 diabetes, especially around the belly. Low-level but persistent inflammation is typically the outcome of obesity, and evidence shows that inflammation contributes to the development of diabetes.
Although the entire process is still unclear to scientists, inflammation associated with obesity plays a role in insulin resistance. This phrase describes a situation in which the body’s cells are unable to readily absorb glucose from the blood and do not react well to insulin. To maintain blood sugar levels within a healthy range, this leads to the pancreas producing more insulin.
But eventually, the pancreas can no longer keep up, which leads to elevated blood sugar levels. Blood sugar levels that are too high can be extremely harmful and lead to several issues. The liver transfers extra blood sugar to fat cells, which store it as body fat, in an attempt to reduce blood sugar levels.
Additional risk factors:
Among the additional risk factors for type 2 diabetes are:
- Having prediabetes
- being at least 45 years old
- having a close family member with type 2 diabetes, such as a parent or sibling
- Delivering a baby that weighs more than nine pounds or experiencing gestational diabetes
- being American Indian, Pacific Islander, Asian American, Alaska Native, Hispanic, Latino, or African American
There are more modifiable risk factors for type 2 diabetes. These may consist of:
- Absence of consistent exercise
- elevated blood pressure
- High levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and low levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol
- cigarette smoking
- not consuming a varied and healthful diet
- excessive use of alcohol
- elevated levels of stress
- inadequate sleep
How Are diabetes and obesity prevented?
The three most crucial strategies to lower your risk of obesity are to modify or keep up with certain lifestyle choices:
- keeping up a nutritious eating schedule
- reducing the amount of time spent sitting and engaging in frequent physical activity
- You can naturally lower your risk of type 2 diabetes by lowering your chance of obesity.
The National Diabetes Prevention Program (NDPP), according to the CDC, is the most effective strategy for preventing type 2 diabetes and reversing prediabetes. To help participants lose 5–7% of their body weight, the program was designed to support them in changing their diet and increasing their physical activity levels.
Can you lower your risk of developing diabetes by decreasing weight?
After three years on the NDPP, participants’ risk of type 2 diabetes decreased by 58%, according to a study by Research that examined the program’s effects. The decline was much more pronounced for those over 60: 71% for the same time frame.
Three groups of research participants were formed: one group took the medicine metformin, one group changed their lifestyle, and one group served as a control. To lose 7% of their body weight, the lifestyle modification group altered their routines and set goals for 150 minutes of weekly exercise and a diet lower in fat and calories.
During the trial, approximately 11% of participants in the placebo group and 5% of those in the lifestyle intervention group got diabetes annually.
According to this study, long-term exercise and diet are even more effective at preventing type 2 diabetes than prescription medications like metformin.
All U.S. states have NDPP programs that have been certified by the CDC. Most health insurance policies, including many Medicare and Medicaid programs, will pay most of the program’s expenses.
Can GLP-1 drugs aid in the treatment of diabetes and obesity?
Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonist drugs were created to help individuals with type 2 diabetes control their blood sugar levels. These drugs aid in lowering A1C and blood sugar levels.
These drugs are, nonetheless, often administered “off-label,” for use not authorized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). GLP-1 drugs are used to encourage weight loss and improve insulin sensitivity rather than to treat type 2 diabetes.
These drugs are administered either orally or by injection once daily or once weekly. Typical GLP-1 drugs consist of:
- Bydureon
- Byetta
- Ozempic
- Rybelsus
- Trulicity
- Victoza
The FDA has authorized two GLP-1 drugs exclusively for weight loss: Wegovy and Saxenda.
According to research, GLP-1 medications can result in a total weight loss of 10.5-15.8 pounds. However, not all doctors will write off-label prescriptions, and it may be difficult to obtain these drugs if you do not have type 2 diabetes.
Summary
Obesity is strongly associated with diabetes. Excess body fat increases the risk of type 2 diabetes and can harm a person’s health in other ways.
Maintaining a modest weight can help control and perhaps avoid diabetes. Regular exercise, a diverse diet, and portion management are all strategies for achieving this goal.
FAQs
Why do you develop diabetes from obesity?
The cellular and physiological mechanisms underlying the link between obesity and type 2 diabetes are complex, involving adiposity-induced changes in ß cell function, adipose tissue biology, and multi-organ insulin resistance, which can often be alleviated and even normalized with sufficient weight loss.
Why does fat result in insulin resistance?
The processes underlying visceral obesity-induced insulin resistance appear to be linked to excess lipid buildup in the liver. This might be caused by excess fatty acids from visceral adipose tissue draining into the portal vein.
Why do normal-weight people get diabetes?
This might be attributed to a poor diet, sedentary lifestyle, a history of gestational diabetes, or a hereditary predisposition.”
Who is at high risk for diabetes?
Overweight. Inactive (exercise fewer than three times per week) African-American/Black, American Indian, Alaska Native, Hispanic, Pacific Islander, or Asian.
Can weight-reduction lead to diabetes?
Being overweight indeed increases your chance of developing diabetes, yet losing weight may indicate that you have the illness.
Why does weight increase lead to diabetes?
Obesity, especially when accompanied by increased abdominal and intra-abdominal fat distribution, as well as increased intrahepatic and intramuscular triglyceride content, is a key risk factor for prediabetes and type 2 diabetes because it increases insulin resistance and ß-cell dysfunction.
References
- Fallabel, C. (2023, June 19). Does obesity cause diabetes? Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/health/diabetes/does-obesity-cause-diabetes#Takeaway
- Vevers, S. (2022b, September 23). What is the relationship between obesity and diabetes? https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/obesity-and-diabetes#summary
- How does obesity cause diabetes? | Obesity & Diabetes | Everlywell. (n.d.). https://www.everlywell.com/blog/weight-management/how-does-obesity-cause-diabetes/?srsltid=AfmBOoo1Z3-2RZ6QvQFLeWc-rhZCfFoMaih4UY3R1X_eod8C9AsBZ_YG
