14A
HEALTHY BODY-HEALTHY MINDH'he CharloHe Post
Thursday, February 15, 1995
i
Researcher hunting for ways
for blacks to fight diabetes IREAD
It's Your Most Important Source For
Forming An Opinion.
By Lauran Neergaard
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON - Dr.
Kwame Osei is on a quest to
help black Americans over
come an apparent genetic pre
disposition for severe diabetes
- hoping to “reset" their bodies
to fight off the disease.
Blacks are twice as likely as
whites to get diabetes, a dis
ease where the body either
doesn't produce enough
insulin or can't use the hor
mone properly. Insulin is vital
to carry sugar from digested
foods out of the bloodstream
and into cells where it can be
used for energy.
At least 3 million black
Americans have diabetes, with
black women particularly vul
nerable — one in four over age
55 has it.
And black diabetics suffer
more complications than white
patients. They are about twice
as likely to go blind or have a
limb amputated, and up to six
times more likely to suffer
serious kidney disease.
Nobody really knows why.
But Osei, of Ohio State
University, said Monday that
he has uncovered indications
of an ethnic genetic predisposi
tion that he believes can be
battled.
Osei studied 80 black
Americans, 60 whites and 32
recent African immigrants for
three years. All were young
and healthy, with normal
blood sugar levels.
The black Americans and
African immigrants produced
twice as much insulin as the
whites - and their insulin
worked only half as well as
that of whites, Osei found.
Also, the black Americans
and African immigrants did
not experience as great a drop
in nighttime blood pressure or
heartbeat as the whites did.
Healthy blood vessels are sup
posed to relax during sleep,
and Osei said he found the
racial disparity particularly
troubling because high blood
pressure is linked to diabetes.
“If the Africans and the
African Americans are behav
ing the same way, then there's
some genetic background for
diabetes," Osei explained.
Yet only 1 percent of Africans
have diabetes, while 12 per
cent of black Americans do,
Osei said.
Osei thinks obesity, a proven
diabetes risk, could be the dif
ference. He cited studies show
ing 10 percent of Aincans are
overweight, compared with 30
percent of white Americans, 40
percent of black Americans -
and 50 percent of U.S. black
women.
But getting people to lose
weight is hard and time con
suming. So Osei won a $1.2
million federal grant to search
for a medical solution. His
five-year study will test
whether certain diabetes
drugs can correct insulin
abnormalities in 240 other
wise healthy black Americans,
to keep them from getting dia
betes.
“We think we can reset the
body, to at least postpone the
disease," Osei explained.
Meanwhile, the American
Diabetes Association
announced Monday that it is
starting a new $500,000 cam
paign to educate black
Americans about diabetes - in
light of new research showing
too few realize the threat,
A new survey found half of
blacks don't realize they're at
risk of diabetes, and 24 per
cent think there's nothing they
can do about that risk.
“This is a problem we can
beat and it's time to begin,"
said Dr. James Gavin, who
heads the ADA's African
American Program.
The African American
Program's centerpiece will be
“Diabetes Sundays," where
doctors and celebrities visit
churches to alert people at
risk: anyone who is black,
overweight, over 45, doesn't
exercise, has a relative with
diabetes or had a baby who
weighed over 9 pounds.
Although diabetes frequently
has no early symptoms, some
patients experience extreme
thirst, occasional blurry
vision, frequent urination,
fatigue or unexplained weight
loss.
mis
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