Study Finds That Overweight Girls Who Lose
Weight Reduce Adult Diabetes Risk
Overweight girls who lose weight before they reach
adulthood greatly reduced their risk for developing type 2
diabetes, according to researchers from the National
Institutes of Health and Harvard University, who analysed 16
years of data on nearly 110,000 women.
Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of the disease. It
is marked by high blood sugar levels and difficulties in the
body’s production or use of insulin. Being overweight,
exercising infrequently and having a family history of
diabetes are known to contribute to the risk of developing the
disease.
The findings were published online in Diabetes Care and
will appear in the June issue.
The study was conducted by researchers at the
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and
Human Development (NICHD). Along with the NICHD, two other
NIH institutes, the National Cancer Institute and the
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney
Diseases, provided funding for the analysis.
The study followed 109,172 female nurses from 1989 to
2005, noting how many developed diabetes during that time.
An initial survey collected information about the women’s
health, history and lifestyle habits. One question asked them
to pick which of a series of diagrams best matched their body
shape at ages 5, 10 and 20. The series of nine line drawings
depicted female silhouettes of different sizes, ranging from
gaunt (size 1) to obese (size 9). The nurses were also asked
to provide their height and current weight and to estimate
their weight when they were 18. Every two years after the
initial survey, the women submitted follow-up information,
including whether they developed diabetes.
The researchers recorded a total of 3,307 cases of type
2 diabetes over the course of the study and found that
the nurses who were overweight as girls were more likely
to become diabetic as adults. Women who indicated that
their size at age 5 matched or exceeded the size 6 figure
were more than twice as likely to develop diabetes as those
who recalled matching the size 2 figure. The women indicating
the size 6 or above at age 10 were 2.57 times as likely to
develop diabetes as adults. Those who reported a body mass
index of more than 30 (considered obese) at age 18 were almost
nine times more likely to develop diabetes than their
normal-weight counterparts (BMI of 18–19).
BMI, or body mass index, is a standard measure of a
person’s build based on his or her height and weight. A BMI
between 18 and 24 reflects a healthy weight. BMI calculators
and additional information about maintaining a healthy weight
are available at:
www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/Obesity.cfm
In the study, the researchers also examined the
combined effect of extra weight at various ages. Compared with
women who were not overweight at key ages in childhood,
adolescence and adulthood, those who indicated they were
overweight at all three ages were 15 times more likely to
develop diabetes. Conversely, women who recalled being
overweight at age 10 but not overweight as adults were no more
likely to become diabetic than their peers who had been
normal-weight children.
"These findings suggest that ensuring that overweight
kids reverse their weight gain is critical to limiting their
future risk of diabetes as adults," said study author, Edwina
Yeung, Ph.D., of the NICHD Division of Epidemiology,
Statistics and Prevention Research.
When the women entered the study, they averaged 34
years old. At that time, they were asked to recall their
weight at age 18. The researchers found that women who gained
weight after age 18 also increased their diabetes risk. Those
who gained more than 25 pounds (11.34 kg) increased their
diabetes risk more than 20 times. On the other hand, women
who recalled being overweight or obese at age 18 and
subsequently lost 10 pounds or more decreased their risk by
more than half, compared with overweight or obese women
who maintained that weight as an adult.
Other authors of the paper were Cuilin Zhang and
Germaine M. Buck Louis of the NICHD, and Walter C. Willett and
Frank B. Hu of the Harvard School of Public Health, Brigham
and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
The NICHD sponsors research on development, before
and after birth; maternal, child, and family health;
reproductive biology and population issues; and medical
rehabilitation.