The 10 Per Cent Solution

Many people with type 2 diabetes have one thing in common: they weigh too much. Australia has one of the fastest growing rates of obesity in the developed world while, according to the 2002/03 New Zealand Health Survey, 1 in 5 New Zealanders are obese.

The results of the Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle Study (AusDiab), released in 2006, reported that obese people are up to 80 times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those with a healthy weight. In fact, research shows that being overweight is the single most significant contributor to the development of type 2 diabetes, so losing weight is the most vital step in bringing it under control (or preventing it).

Think of excess body fat as a contaminant in your fuel system. Glucose, or blood glucose, is the fuel that powers your body. Normally, glucose, which is derived from the food you eat, has no problem making its way into the body’s cells from the bloodstream. But body fat impedes this vital process by releasing substances called free fatty acids into the blood.

Free fatty acids have at least two undesirable effects. One is to cause cells to ignore the glucose and leave it floating in your blood. The other is to cause your pancreas to produce less insulin, a hormone that cells need in order to absorb glucose. So free fatty acids play a major role in diabetes.

More and more research is pointing to the importance of where fat is distributed and how that can affect your health. Carrying too much weight around your waist can make you less sensitive to the effect of insulin and increase the risks of high blood pressure and heart disease.

Losing weight is like cleansing your fuel system so that you can use energy more efficiently. The less body fat you have, the fewer fatty acids you will have circulating in your bloodstream, and the lower your blood glucose will be.