
For more information on diabetes: American Diabetes
Association Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention Hispanics More Vulnerable to
Complications of DiabetesBy Judy McBride September 21, 2000
New findings underscore the need to better educate U.S. Hispanics on how to
prevent diabetes or minimize its impact. A study of elderly Hispanics living in
Massachusetts shows that those who have diabetes are more likely to lose muscle
and the ability to move around with ease or take care of basic needs, such as
eating, dressing, bathing and toileting. These newly recognized disorders--muscle wasting and functional
impairment--increase the list of known complications that may result from
uncontrolled blood sugar. They include heart disease, blindness, kidney failure
and nerve damage in the extremities, according to study leader Carmen
Castaneda. She is a physician and scientist at the
Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research
Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston, which is funded by
USDAs Agricultural Research
Service. Castaneda and colleagues Odilia I. Bermudez and Katherine L. Tucker studied
556 Hispanic elders, ranging in age from 60 to 92, as well as 158 non-Hispanic
white subjects living in the same neighborhoods across Massachusetts for
comparison. Diabetes is far more prevalent among U.S. Hispanics than among non-Hispanic
whites and African Americans, explains Castaneda. And it is more severe, she
noted, judging from the number of Hispanics in the study who use insulin rather
than dietary changes or less potent drugs to control their blood sugar. This group consumed significantly more protein and calories than the
non-Hispanic white diabetics, but it did not translate to higher serum albumen
levels. Because higher albumen levels are recognized as a general indicator of
good health and nutrition, the findings suggests that more advanced diabetes
among Hispanics increases their risk of inadequate nutrition. Castaneda and her colleagues emphasize the need for the public health sector
to educate Hispanics and their health care providers about the serious
consequences of diabetes and the need for dietary and lifestyle changes that
can prevent it or lessen its impact. Scientific contact: Carmen Castaneda, Jean Mayer
USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on
Aging at Tufts University, Boston,
Mass., phone (617) 556-3081, fax (617) 556-3083,
[email protected]. Story contacts Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging U.S. Department of Agriculture |