The Relationship between Diabetes and Obesity across Different Ethnicities

The prevalence of diabetes throughout the western world, and the world in general, has drastically increased in recent years [1,2]. An estimated 6.2% of Canadians are currently living with diagnosed diabetes [3]. Diabetes is associated with significant reductions in life expectancy, and mortality rates among adults with diabetes are twice as high as those without diabetes [3]. Obesity is thought to contribute to the insulin resistance syndrome [4] and as such is often linked to the development of diabetes [2,4,5]. Within Canada, an estimated 25.4% of adults are classified as obese, with a further 36.7% classified as overweight [6]. The prevalence of obesity and related co-morbidities (including diabetes) are increasingly progressively in western society [4].