Article Review: Asian Americans and Diabetes
APA Citation:
More than half of Asian Americans with diabetes are undiagnosed. (2015). National Institute of
Health. Retrieved from: https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/more-half-asian- americans-diabetes-are-undiagnosed
Although diabetes as a whole is increasing across the United States, certain groups are disproportionately affected by the epidemic. Additionally, different groups may have specific and unique concerns that are essential to take into consideration when offering health advice. Asian Americans have not always been considered a high-risk group for developing type 2 diabetes. But according to this article published by the National Institute of Health, not only is diabetes common among Asian Americans at a rate of 21%, Asian Americans have the highest rate of being underdiagnosed of any racial or ethnic group. This suggests that the common perception that factors such as body fat and traditional diet that have been thought to protect Asian Americans are not nearly as protective as once believed.
In further support of its conclusions, the article notes that Asian Americans tend to develop diabetes at a much lower BMI (body mass index) than do other groups. This suggests that the optimal weight for Asian Americans is lower than what is generally suggested for all Americans and is an argument for racially specific BMI guides to ward against the development...
Although being overweight or having an obese BMI is not the only risk factor for diabetes, it is one of several significant ones and inadequate attention may be given to Asian American patients who are technically of normal weight but who are still at an unhealthy BMI for their genetic profile.
There are, of course, other possible conclusions which can be drawn from these results. First of all, it may be possible that Asian Americans’ adaptation of a traditional Western diet more so than weight is the triggering factor for developing diabetes. The category of Asian Americans is also extremely broad and genetically diverse and researchers did not determine if individuals certain Asian heritages had a disproportionate effect upon the final results drawn by the researchers. The concept of genetically specific medicine, particularly for lifestyle diseases, is still new and emerging as is the epigenetic factors inherent to developing diabetes.
The data analysis of the researchers was clearly focused upon BMI, given that it is a quantifiable factor. It can be very difficult to isolate different people’s consumption of various foods when analyzing disease patterns in large population groups. Also, it may have been challenging to more carefully segment the racial and ethnic heritage of participants, although it would have been possible to note if respondents were first, second, or later generation descendants of…
