Study On Twins Shows That Obesity is More Likely to Lead to Diabetes Than Cardiovascular Disease

05 Aug 2016 --- A recently published study on twins has revealed that a high BMI is more likely to result in diabetes than cardiovascular disease.

The study, published on JAMA internal Medicine, looked at a group of 4046 twin pairs. Of the pairs, one twin was overweight, and the other within a healthy weight range.

Over a period of 6 years, from March 17, 1998, to January 16, 2003, with a follow-up regarding incident outcomes until December 31, 2013, twins were examined based on their weight, their amount of physical activity, smoking habits and educational level.

The researchers found that the twins with a higher body mass index, even among those in the obese range of 30 or higher, were not at increased risk for heart attack or death.

However, the twins with higher B.M.I’s were associated with an increased risk for diabetes.

“Based on these results, the association between obesity and cardiovascular disease is explained by genetic, not environmental, factors,” said the lead author, Peter Nordstrom, a professor of geriatric medicine at Umea University. “Unfortunately, this also means that environmental factors that reduce obesity do not reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease or death. But they most certainly decrease the risk for diabetes.”

As a higher BMI was not associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease or death, but was associated with the onset of diabetes, these results may suggest that lifestyle interventions to reduce obesity are more effective in decreasing the risk of diabetes than the risk of cardiovascular disease or death.