Knowledge and awareness are growing daily about the ways obesity triggers the aggressive damage cancer can do to your body. But that's not all…

Unfortunately, those extra pounds, higher BMIs and bigger belly fat that stem from fighting -- and losing -- to obesity at middle-age may foreshadow a greater risk of diabetes as folks reach their retirement years. Scientists observed the link between these diseases while tracking the health of some 4,200 patients (older than age 64) at three-year intervals.

Over the course of the 12-year study, 339 patients were diagnosed with diabetes. Seven factors -- among them BMI at age 50, fat mass, weight and waist circumference -- were all related to the heightened risk of diabetes.

High-risk patients who carried around the greatest amount of fat increased their chances of developing diabetes by as much as sixfold, regardless of age or race. Moreover, those who were already obese at age 50 (BMIs greater than 29) and had gained more than 20 pounds during their middle years were five times more likely to succumb to diabetes, compared to patients whose BMIs were lower than 25 and maintained a stable weight.

And, patients with the highest numbers in two specific categories -- BMI and waist circumference -- more than quadrupled their diabetes risks, compared to folks with the lowest numbers.

Another reason why you should incorporate better foods like these into your diet TODAY.

Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 303, No. 24, pp. 2504-2512, June 23-30, 2010

ScienceDaily June 24, 2010

The Heart.org June 23, 2010

With research growing about the many health benefits connected with following a Mediterranean diet, Spanish researchers may have discovered a genetic reason why it works so well for Europeans. And, it's linked to their consumption of virgin olive oil.

Twenty patients, suffering from the cluster of symptoms related to heart disease, stroke and diabetes better known as metabolic syndrome, ate controlled olive oil-based breakfasts with low or high amounts of phenolic compounds.

The connection: Olive oils contain beneficial micronutrients known as phenols, and extra virgin varieties have been found to possess more of them. Previous studies have shown how extra virgin olive oils reduce a number of damaging, pro-inflammatory markers in the human body.

Ninety-eight different genes were identified in the presence of foods cooked with phenol-rich, virgin olive oil, many of them linked to obesity and type 2 diabetes. Even better, the phenols in extra virgin olive oil repressed some of these pro-inflammatory processes, suggesting that a targeted diet can switch the activity of immune system cells to a less harmful inflammatory profile, scientists say.

These findings add to the growing body of knowledge (pun intended) supporting the belief that what you eat can directly affect your health.

BMC Genomics, Vol. 11, No. 253, April 20, 2010 Free Full Text PDF

ScienceDaily April 22, 2010

Daily Mail April 23, 2010

Add a pair of studies to the "pro" side of drinking coffee, this time linked to reducing one's risk of type 2 diabetes. Only a single catch: The more java one drinks, the smaller the risk.

After tracking the health of nearly 1,150 healthy, diabetes-free Native Americans between ages 45-74 for more than seven years in one study, scientists found patients who consumed the most coffee -- 12 cups or more every day -- enjoyed the biggest benefit: A 67 percent reduction in the risk of developing diabetes, compared to folks who don't drink it. Even more surprising was that 8 percent of the patients actually drank that much coffee every day.

Interestingly, drinking up to four cups of coffee was associated with just a 13 percent drop in a patient's risks of facing diabetes, but consuming as many as 11 cups raised one's level of protection only to 22 percent.

However, the risk reductions were a bit higher in a late 2009 Archives of Internal Medicine study, related not only to coffee, but decaffeinated coffee and tea as well. Folks who drank three or four cups of coffee every day lessened their risks of diabetes by about 25 percent compared to those who drank two cups or less.

And, surprisingly, reductions in diabetes risks were comparable or even higher among patients consuming more than three to four cups of decaf coffee (33 percent) and tea (20 percent).

Nutrition, Metabolism & Cardiovascular Diseases February 19, 2010

NutraIngredients-USA February 24, 2010

EurekAlert December 14, 2009

Lots of research has documented the deleterious effect a lack of sleep can have on the health of adults, specifically raising their risks of diabetes. Less sleep each night -- eight hours or less -- may also harm your kids, elevating their blood sugar and, eventually, raising their risk of diabetes.

Chinese scientists discovered the sleepy link to adult diabetes while observing the health of more than 600 obese children (ages 3-6), then comparing them to an equal number of kids who maintained a healthy weight and had no blood sugar issues. Overall, 47 percent of the obese kids monitored spent less time in the sack (eight hours or less per night), compared to non-obese patients (37 percent).

As a result, obese children who slept fewer hours were more than twice as likely to experience higher blood sugar levels. The lack of sleep, however, also harmed the health of the non-obese as well, elevating their blood sugar by a factor of 1.35. Possibly, the most telling statistic: Of the nearly 300 obese children who got less than eight hours of sleep each night, 49 patients experienced high blood sugar problems, more than double the number of overweight kids with elevated blood sugar who slept nine or 10 hours a night.

All the more reason to review our recent feature on improving your sleep habits and your child's.

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Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, Vol. 164, No. 1, pp. 46-52, January 2010

Reuters.com January 11, 2010