Doctors yesterday said the pathogenic factors leading to type 2 diabetes for Taiwanese might differ slightly from those that affect Westerners, in that East Asian people tend to have weaker insulin secretion and a higher body fat ratio.
Diabetes Association of the Republic of China secretary-general Lin Shih-yi (林時逸), who is also the director of endocrinology and metabolism at Taichung Veterans General Hospital, said type 2 diabetes has often been linked with obesity.
However, a Japanese retrospective study last year showed that while about 80 percent of Westerners with type 2 diabetes were obese, only abut 30 to 40 percent of Taiwanese were obese and the average age of onset was younger, he said.
East Asian people in general have weaker insulin secretion than Western people, causing the body to be unable to control blood sugar effectively, which means they develop diabetes more easily, Lin said.
Studies have shown that the weaker insulin secretion might be determined by particular genes, intestinal secretions, diet and other factors.
Diabetes Association of the Republic of China director-general Wayne Sheu (許惠恒), a superintendent at Taichung Veterans General Hospital, said among patients diagnosed with diabetes, only about 20 to 30 percent of East Asian patients have normal insulin secretion, lower than the approximately 50 percent of Western patients.
In addition, he said East Asian diabetes patients might not look obese, but many have a relatively high percentage of body fat, which can increase insulin resistance.
Sheu said there are more than 1.88 million people with diabetes in Taiwan and the prevalence of diabetes in adults is about 10 percent — higher than the global prevalence of 8.8 percent and 9.3 percent in the Asia-Pacific region.
The Taiwanese Association of Diabetes Educators on Friday last week published a low-glycemic cookbook, which nutritionists say could help people with diabetes control their blood sugar levels and help people without diabetes maintain a healthy weight.
Taiwanese Association of Diabetes Educators president Tu Shih-te (杜思德) said he treated a 19-year-old boy who had a body mass index of 24 and who did not look obese, but he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
The boy drank a cup of bubble milk tea nearly every day, did not exercise and his family has a history of diabetes, Tu said, adding he has seen several similar cases of young people without obesity diagnosed with diabetes.
He suggested people not only control their body weight, but also eat food low in sugars and fats, exercise regularly and get their blood sugar levels tested before and after a meal at least once a year, especially those whose family has a history of the disease.
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