Source: Ottawa Sun
Rising diabetes, obesity rates putting ethnic groups’ health at risk: Study
Sheryl Ubelacker, THE CANADIAN PRESSFirst posted: | Updated:
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Poor diet was a strong indicator behind the elevation in the risk for heart attack and stroke, said Chiu.
According to the Statistics Canada health surveys, the proportion of South Asian men who reported that they didn’t eat fruits or vegetables at least three times a day increased significantly over the past 12 years.
“So this is suggesting that their diet might be becoming progressively worse,” she said.
Black females had a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease than black males, primarily because of poorer diet and higher levels of psychosocial stress.
This group of women had the most “drastic” increase in rates of high blood pressure among the ethnic communities studied, jumping from 20 per cent in 2001 to 27 per cent in 2012.
“That’s a 30 per cent increase in a little over 10 years,” said Chiu.
Black women were more likely to be obese and less likely to consume fruits and vegetables regularly, she said, noting that 20 per cent of black females were obese in 2012, compared to 16 per cent of black males, although the latter’s obesity rate also went up over time.
Obesity can lead to Type 2 diabetes, which raises the risk of heart attack, stroke and other serious heath conditions like kidney failure.
However, the jump in obesity rates was most pronounced among Chinese men, the ICES scientists discovered.
“This is concerning because previous research … has found that Asians are particularly sensitive to weight gain, meaning that their risks of diabetes and cardiovascular disease are elevated much more than the white population with small increases in weight,” said Chiu.
Canada is among the most ethnically diverse countries in the world. In 2011, more than six million foreign-born individuals were living in Canada, representing one-fifth of the population.
If nothing is done to reverse the trends shown by the study, the health of such vulnerable ethnic groups will continue to worsen, she predicted.
“And therefore, we need both population-based strategies to combat obesity as well as ethnically tailored strategies.”
Dr. Sonia Anand, a researcher in population cardiovascular health at McMaster University in Hamilton, said the ICES findings are valuable because they show how risk factors can change over time.
“We all are aware that certain non-white ethnic groups are at increased risk of diabetes and obesity, and this work is important really for the next step, which is how to address the issue of prevention,” said Anand, who was not involved in the study.
Part of that is tailoring treatment of the risk factors for heart disease and stroke to individuals within particular ethnic groups, she agreed.
“But even more importantly would be community intervention strategies, where we try to affect influences on health behaviours in the broader environment in order to reduce adverse health behaviours.”
Those strategies include making communities more walkable to encourage physical activity, increasing the availability of healthy foods and continuing to beef up policies that discourage smoking.
More details about the study can be found at: http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/5/8/e007232.full.
Editor