According to a press release, a Loyola University Health System study has shown that 1 in 5 people with type 2 diabetes is morbidly obese.
One hundred or more pounds overweight is considered morbidly obese. This is also a BMI of 40 or above. The study looked at data from the NHANES study which spans 30 years. During that time, the incidence of morbid obesity has risen 141 percent in people with type 2 diabetes.
The researchers offer these reasons for the increase in obesity...
- Inexpensive food
- Larger portion sizes
- Increase in consumption of sugary soda
Read about the study here...
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Please, please, please note: correlation is not causation. The researchers speculate (I did not see any data) about the reasons for the increase in obesity. What if people, obsessed with their weight and thinking they are at fault (when it the disease making them fat, not fat giving them the disease), choose to try ineffective diets (as all are), and ignore diabetes symptoms until they are both morbidly obese AND with full-blown diabetes?
Please, let’s focus on health behaviors – eating healthy, exercising – and not reduce the discussion to just weight. I recommend reading Health At Every Size by Dr. Linda Bacon for more on this.