Not getting enough calcium? Turns out it could raise your risk of type 2 diabetes and obesity, according to a new study presented at the Experimental Biology 2014 meeting in San Diego, CA.
The research, which was led by researcher Laura Tosi, M.D., also reveals there’s a racial component to this risk, as African Americans are more likely to develop diabetes if they don’t get enough calcium in their diet.
For Tosi, it’s a critical but exciting finding.
“Even though life expectancy for people with diabetes has gone up, the disease has a significant impact on quality of life, so finding ways to prevent people from developing diabetes is critical,” says Tosi, who serves as director of the bone health program at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. area. “We were excited to find that higher calcium intake appears to mitigate the impact of some of the risk genes for type 2 diabetes, and we’re eager to see if these results hold true in other populations.”
The Findings
For many Americans, type 2 diabetes poses a significant health risk. But for African Americans, this risk is even higher, especially when combined with obesity and a genetic predisposition for the disease.
According to Tosi’s findings, however, eating enough calcium as recommended by the U.S. Department of Agriculture seems to mitigate this risk.
“Understanding the interactions of genes and environmental factors in children is especially helpful for a disease as complex as diabetes,” says Joseph Devaney, Ph.D., director of DNA technologies at Children’s National Medical Center, who presented the findings late last month. “The earlier you can identify a person’s risk factors, the better the opportunity to prevent, or at least delay, full-blown disease.”
So how did researchers make this finding?
- First, they analyzed DNA samples from 142 African American children. Researchers note none of the children were diabetic during the study’s investigations, though 40 percent of them were overweight.
- After analyzing the data, they found that many children tested positive for a gene variant associated with a higher risk of type 2 diabetes. This variant makes them more likely to develop diabetes from a genetic standpoint.
- Next, they looked at their weight and dietary intake, and found something interesting: For those who ate higher amounts of calcium, they were more likely to have a lower body mass index and lower body fat than those who skimped on calcium. Both of these are risk factors for type 2 diabetes. Having less body fat means they were less likely to develop diabetes.
In short, calcium seemed to have a protective effect against diabetes–and weighing more in general.
“What got us interested in this is the whole question of how the environment–including a person’s diet–influences gene expression,” says Tosi. “Twenty percent of participating children consumed no milk in their diet whatsoever and 55 percent consumed less than one serving of milk per day. Only one-quarter of the children met the USDA standard.”
However, Tosi isn’t sure why consuming more calcium was associated with a lower risk of diabetes or weighing less, though she suspects that calcium may affect how certain genes are expressed.
What You Should Do
Worried about your diabetes risk–or perhaps want to reduce your waistline? Then the change couldn’t be more simple: Make sure you’re getting the USDA’s recommended intake of calcium to stay fit. They currently recommend that adults over 19 consume 1,000 milligrams per day.
Readers: What are some other ways you keep your risk of obesity low?
Source:
Low Calcium Intake Associated With Higher Risk of Diabetes, Obesity in African American Children – ScienceDaily.com
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