Jo’s Cafe

Welcome to 2009 and Diabetes News.  For those unfamiliar with me or the reason this blog started, I am a Type 2 Diabetic and a news junkie.  This blog started as a way for me to express my feelings about my condition. As I became healthier and in better control, I started providing posts with news articles about the condition and my thoughts.  What developed is Diabetes in the News.  Thank you for stopping by!

Onto the diabetic news …

Several news links I found in my Google Reader yesterday screamed the headline, “Big Bottoms Could Prevent Diabetes”.  (snort)  I have a big bottom and hips and I’m a diabetic.  Just where do these people get their headlines from?   Here is the first paragraph from the one article I pulled up from the Telegraph in the UK:

Researchers believe the type of fat that accumulates around the hips and buttocks, rather than around your stomach, may offer some protection against developing the disease.

The action words to grab onto in this paragraph are “believe” and “may”.  There is not valid proof that big bottoms, ie: fat butts, prevents Type 2 diabetics.  We know that abdominal fat is bad for everyone, as …

• Belly fat appears to boost inflammation.
• Belly fat is linked to worse atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), which makes heart attacks more likely.  (WebMD)

We all need fat - our bodies collect it for energy and warmth - but I’m really leery of news reports siting doctors who say that big bottoms and hips “may” or they “believe” could prevent diabetes. These are misleading headlines and reports and some people, not all, won’t get the “believe” or “may” and think their big backsides are just fine and will protect them.
 

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