Spotlight on risk factors for developing diabetes

Several factors that increase or decrease one's risk of developing diabetes were identified by research released this month.

Higher consumption of cheese or other fermented dairy products (such as yogurt) was associated with lower risk of developing diabetes, according to a large prospective study of Europeans, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Another study, from Diabetes Care, found that taking capsules of curcumin (an ingredient in turmeric) decreased progression from pre-diabetes to diabetes compared to placebo.

In other food-related research, an analysis of the Women's Health Initiative found that women who were a healthy weight and highly active had less than one-third the diabetes risk of obese and inactive women. The study, published in Diabetes Care, also noted that much of the racial and ethnic differences in diabetes incidence could be attributed to these lifestyle factors. Confirming the importance of physical activity, an analysis of the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, published in Archives of Internal Medicine, found that weight training or aerobic exercise (or better yet, both) reduced men's risk of developing diabetes.

Two studies of women identified other factors potentially associated with diabetes development. A case-control analysis of the Nurses' Health Study, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, revealed that women with higher plasma bicarbonate levels were less likely to develop diabetes. Higher urinary phthalate concentrations, on the other hand, were associated with increased risk of diabetes, according to NHANES data published in Environmental Health Perspectives.