Why are certain ethnic and racial groups more commonly afflicted with diabetes?
Bell: The eminent human geneticist James Neel of the University of Michigan proposed that genes that increase our risk of developing diabetes today conferred an advantage in the past. He suggested that under conditions of feast and famine–a situation presumably not uncommon throughout human history–people with the so-called thrifty gene were better able to store food as fat during the feast periods. Diabetes would only develop under the modern scenario of plentiful food supplies and low physical activity. The thrifty gene then became disadvantageous. If the thrifty genotype hypothesis is correct, it suggests that populations with a history of less-stable food supplies may have a higher risk of developing diabetes, and this may explain the increased prevalence of diabetes in certain ethnic and racial groups.
