A study just out links high rates of diabetes to African Americans who lived in substandard housing. Sigh. Doesn't that seem rather obvious? Does it really require a big study to confirm it?? Well, anyway, here's the scoop: researchers collected data on 998 African American men and women born in St. Louis between 1936 and 1950. They looked at all the risk factors for those individuals - factors that could contribute to ill health. Examples of risk factors include access to medical care and quality of neighborhoods (including such things as air quality, condition of yards and sidewalks, and proximity to industrial sites and traffic noise.)

The conclusion? Those whose housing conditions were ranked as only fair or poor were at increased risk for type 2 diabetes. Interestingly, even after adjusting for other social or environmental factors, those in substandard housing had double the risk for diabetes.

Confused as to why? So are the researchers behind the study. Says lead researcher Dr. Mario Schootman of the Washington University School of Medicine, "So far, we can't explain why that is. It could potentially be related to lead. Lead is associated with the development of diabetes, and we know that in some poorer housing conditions, there's likely to be lead exposure. But it also could be related to other, unknown, environmental contaminants."

Just yesterday I shelled out for a quality water filter. My concern is that there could be lead in the plumbing of my old house. Reading this, I'm so glad I did. Who knows what junk is floating around in our air and water these days. Sad, huh?

Results for Dr. Schootman's study have been published in the American Journal of Epidemiology (August, 2007).

UPDATE 8/21: One reader commented in no uncertain terms that this is just a bunch of PC overkill. Read carefully. "After adjusting for other...factors, those in substandard housing had double the risk for diabetes." So you have two obese guys who eat Fritos for dinner and fried chicken for breakfast. They both drink soda at every meal. The one who lives in substandard housing is statistically more likely to develop diabetes than the guy who lives in fair or poor housing.

According to a RAND Corporation study, fewer and fewer diabetics are going undiagnosed these days. Specifically, the gap has closed dramatically over the last twenty-five years. So much so that Hispanics and African Americans are now no more likely than whites to be undiagnosed. Good news, to be sure.

And the news is especially good for men. James P. Smith, who authored the study, says that twenty-five years ago about fifty percent of men with diabetes did not even know they had the disease. Jump forward to 1999-2002, however, and the number drops to about twenty percent.

Smith concludes that even though ethnic and gender disparities remain, we are certainly doing a lot better at getting people diagnosed and into treatment. Diabetes programs that target minorities can take a lot of the credit for this shift, Smith believes.

On the down side, the less-educated people among us are much more likely to go undiagnosed and, when diagnosed, are less likely to successfully incorporate lifestyle changes required to manage the disease. Also of concern, Smith says, is the fact that even though obese people are at a high risk for diabetes, they nevertheless are more likely to have undiagnosed diabetes than are slimmer people.

African Americans are, it turns out, not just more likely than white Americans to develop diabetes. They are also more likely to have poor blood sugar control, exposing them to a much higher risk of diabetes-related health complications. This fact comes courtesy of researchers who have studied varying HbA1c levels amongst diabetic African Americans, comparing this data with levels for diabetic non-Hispanic whites. The results have been published in the new issue of Diabetes Care.

Anyway, here's the bottom line: the conclusion of the study is that poor blood sugar control amongst diabetic African Americans explains why the risk level for diabetes-related complications and death is higher for blacks than for whites. Trouble is, it's a little tricky identifying one single reason to explain this disparity. It could be due to lower levels of awareness or education about diabetes amongst African Americans. It could also be because black Americans are less likely to have access to quality medical care and are also, overall, less likely to be able to afford necessary medications.

Famed basketball player Walt Frazier is lending a helping hand to the American Heart Association (AHA). Frazier (pictured wearing trademark fedora), who became a basketball legend in the 1970s thanks to his skills with the game, is to help promote the AHA's new education campaign: The Heart of Diabetes: Understanding Insulin Resistance. The idea is to spread the word about the special danger of cardiovascular disease faced by Type 2 diabetics. The aim is to reach all people, but especially African Americans (who are much more at risk for Type 2 than the rest of the population), and to let them know that having Type 2 diabetes is a major risk factor for heart disease.

According to Frazier, it's all about getting familiar with your family's health history. Find out what medical conditions your close blood relatives have or had. This can help you determine your risk for diabetes, heart disease and other life-threatening conditions. Then, says Frazier, the AHA's program can provide support and motivation in helping people who are at risk make the transition to a healthier lifestyle, and to help them understand that there are a range of steps they can take to reduce their risk.

For more info, visit www.americanheart.org/diabetes or call 1-800-AHA-USA1.

Oooh, this sounds so yummy! The American Diabetes Association (ADA) has put out a new edition of its book, The New Soul Food Cookbook for People with Diabetes. The book is written by two dietitians - Fabiola Demps Gaines and Roniece Weaver - so you know the recommendations are safe and healthy. Gaines and Weaver are the food whizzes who came up with the Soul Food Pyramid.

The idea behind both this book and the Soul Food Pyramid is simple: people like to eat and they like to eat yummy foods. Also, one the reasons people choose certain foods over others is culturally based. There are certain foods that people, especially African Americans, traditionally opt for that we now know are killers, especially combined with overeating and a sedentary lifestyle. The book aims to help make soul foods healthier rather than trying to make those who enjoy them switch to a celery and cottage cheese-type of diet. Let's be honest: that just won't cut it for most people! Gaines and Weaver provide healthier versions of soul food favorites, as well as other handy tips including food substitutions. For example: how about pork tenderloin instead of fatty pork chops?

To read more, check out Gaines and Weaver's excellent website (where they operate under the name Hebni Nutritional Consultants, Inc.). There you can read about their mission to educate people, especially African Americans, about healthy eating. You can also order their books and check out some sample recipes. Also visit the ADA's online store or call (908) 672-6024 to learn more or to order a copy of the New Soul Food Cookbook.

CBS News is running a report on new findings published in Diabetes Care (July 2006). The title seems a little silly to me: "Diet May Help Minorities' Diabetes." Well, duh, I thought.

Anyway, the point is that minorities (defined as African Americans, Asians and Hispanics) are more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes than are white Americans. The news is that improved eating habits may benefit these minorities in terms of controlling their diabetes than would be the case for whites. Surprised? I am.

Also from the Diabetes Care research is the news that body mass index does not fully explain why minorities suffer from diabetes at a higher rate. In other words, it's not just about weight, folks.

Finally, the researchers also concluded that gaining weight puts Asians at a particularly high risk for diabetes.

Check out the CBS article for a long summary of the research. Of course, Diabetes Care contains the full story.

Even though obesity is a big, big African American health issue, it is under-diagnosed amongst African American diabetics, in particular. So say the authors of a community health study conducted in South Carolina for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

If you're white, have diabetes and are...you know...on the extra-portly side of things, you are three times more likely than a black person to receive a gentle word of warning from your physician about the consequences for your health. This is extra scary, given that the study was conducted in the Charleston area of South Carolina, where African Americans are hardly a minority community.

So, why the disparity? The authors of the study aren't exactly sure, but speculate that physicians may perceive black patients as being less receptive to advice about weight. It has also been suggested that there are issues of cultural bias at play here, with physicians perhaps being more accepting of overweight as normative amongst African Americans.