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Parental diabetes may be associated with higher risk for obesity
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Normoglycemic patients with parental history of type 2 diabetes demonstrated reduced resting energy expenditure, which may increase the risk of obesity, insulin resistance and incident dysglycemia, according to a study published in BMJ Open Diabetes Research and Care.
“Resting energy expenditure is linked to obesity, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. [Resting energy expenditure] and [type 2 diabetes] are inherited traits,” Ebenezer A. Nyenwe, MD, from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, and colleagues wrote. “Therefore, we investigated the effect of parental [type 2 diabetes] on [resting energy expenditure] in normoglycemic subjects.”
Nyenwe and colleagues enrolled and matched 87 patients with parental type 2 diabetes to 83 patients without parental type 2 diabetes based on age, gender, race, BMI, weight and waist circumference.
Participants (mean age, 38.8 years; 57% women; 53% black) underwent a 75 g oral glucose tolerance test and all demonstrated normal blood glucose. The researchers used indirect calorimetry to determine resting energy expenditure and dual energy X-ray absorptiometry to determine body composition.
Participants had a mean BMI of 28.5 kg/m², mean waist circumference of 91.8 cm, mean weight of 83.9 kg, mean fat mass of 31% and mean fat-free mass of 54.4 kg. Blacks had a higher BMI, weight, waist circumference and lean body mass, but similar body fat composition compared with whites.
Data showed that participants with parental type 2 diabetes had significantly lower normalized resting energy expenditure than those without parental diabetes (1364.4 Kcal per day vs. 1489.4 Kcal per day), as well as lower resting energy expenditure per fat-free mass (29.2 Kcal/kg fat-free mass per day vs. 31.9 Kcal/kg fat-free mass per day).
Normalized resting energy expenditure was lower among blacks compared with whites (1362.7 Kcal per day vs. 1496.1 Kcal per day). Similarly, resting energy expenditure per fat-free mass was lower among blacks compared with whites (28.6 Kcal/kg fat-free mass per day vs. 32.6 K cal/kg fat-free mass per day).
Independent predictors of resting energy expenditure included ethnicity, parental history of type 2 diabetes and fat-free mass.
“Given the inverse association between low resting and exercise energy expenditure and weight gain, our findings of a lower [resting energy expenditure] in African-American offspring predicts increased risk of obesity and dysglycemia among these subjects,” Nyenwe and colleagues concluded. “By the same token, the Caucasian offspring who had lower [resting energy expenditure] than Caucasians without parental diabetes would be at increased risk of obesity and dysglycemia.” – by Alaina Tedesco
Disclosure: The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.