Diabetics given the fat-blocking drug Xenical (orlistat) lost an average of 4 percent of their bodyweight in six months compared to 1.4 percent for those given a placebo according to a new study.

Obese diabetics taking the fat-blocking prescription drug Xenical (orlistat) for six months in addition to a mildly reduced calorie diet, lost 4.2 percent of body weight compared to 1.4 percent for those given a placebo according to a new study from France.

Extreme obesity, that is having a body mass index of 40 or more, increases the risk of diabetes 7.4-fold as self-reported by people who were surveyed according to a paper from researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Congestive heart failure is 2.5 times more common among diabetics than non-diabetics according to a new study.

Being 20-29 percent over ideal weight increases the risk of dying from diabetes by 156 percent in men and 234 percent in women according to a study done by the American Cancer Society involving 750,000 people determined the risk of dying from individual diseases.

As of 2001, the total cost was $98 billion according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

Two-thirds (67 percent) of people with type 2, non-insulin-dependent, diabetes are overweight with a body mass index (BMI) exceeding 27 according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly half (46 percent) are obese with a BMI greater than 30.

Since the risk of diseases associated with obesity are associated with belly fat, and not fat on the hips and thighs, taking a waist measurement is a better indication of risk than is body mass index (BMI) according to a new paper from Germany.

Obesity, diabetes, insulin resistance, and excessive or impaired insulin secretion are associated with more than 20 degenerative diseases according to a new paper from the German Institute for Human Nutrition, in Nuthetal-Berlin, Germany.

In his interview, William Wilson, M.D., discussed a condition he has named Hypothalamic Pituitary Dysfunction, or HPD for short. In this article he provides an outline for diagnosis, treatment and examples of patients he has treated.

“Diabetes is a strong risk factor for ischemic stroke,” according to a population study from the University of Minnesota.

“Metabolically obese, normal-weight individuals are very common in the general population”, according to one paper.

A 2.2 pounds weight loss increased life expectancy of a type-2 diabetic by 3 to 4 months, and a 22 pounds weight loss increased life expectancy by 35 percent according to Lean et al (1990).

THE RISK OF TYPE II DIABETES IS 11 TIMES GREATER for a women with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 compared to one with a BMI of 20.

TYPE II DIABETICS LOST MORE FAT from their upper body and less from their lower body on a moderate fat diet high in monounsaturates than those eating a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet according to one study.

“Clinicians are likely to encounter morbidity more frequently among their patients with elevated BMI, even those patients in the overweight category [with a body mass index greater than 25],” concludes a recent study by researchers from Tufts University, Harvard School of Public Health, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The risk of type 2 non-insulin-dependent diabetes is 2 times higher in African-Americans, 2.5 times higher in Hispanics, and 5 times higher in American Indians compared to Caucasians.

The longer a man is overweight the higher his risk of type 2 diabetes according to a recent study.

Being overweight increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes more than any other disease.

Women with a BMI of 25 to 29.9 (overweight) were approximately 7 times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those with a BMI of 17 to 22 (lean). Those with a BMI greater than or equal to 35 (very obese) were 63 times more likely.

A WAIST MEASUREMENT is the best predictor of type II diabetes among Mexican-Americans. It is at least as good as that of waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) and body mass index (BMI) combined.

Artemis P. Simopoulos, M.D. is one of the world’s leading experts on the effects of essential fatty acids on health and disease and is the author of “The Omega Diet”.