Average American has very high risk of diabetes
Body mass index (BMI), the ratio of body weight to height, is tightly linked to lifetime risk of diabetes mellitus, researchers reported at the Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association. “On average, every American has a very high risk of diabetes,” CDC investigators told conference participants.
Using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data, Dr. K. M. Venkat Narayan and associates at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, calculated the lifetime risk of diabetes according to BMI for subjects between 18 and 84 years old.
A BMI between 20 and 25 is considered normal, whereas values above or below this range represent being under- and overweight, respectively. Obesity is typically defined as a BMI of 30 or greater.
