Report: Stress increases risk for Type 2 diabetes in black women

CHICAGO Obesity mixed with high stress levels may increase the risk of Type 2 diabetes in black women, according to a study presented at the American Psychosomatic Society’s annual scientific meeting in Chicago Wednesday.

Duke University researchers enlisted 62 black women without diabetes and asked them to discuss stressful events in their lives and then measured their levels of the hormone epinephrine and blood sugar. The body releases epinephrine during periods of high stress.

The researchers found that women with high levels of abdominal fat and epinephrine also had higher levels of glucose in their blood, high enough to be considered pre-diabetic, while they also experienced larger increases in blood sugar during the test than those with low epinephrine and abdominal fat levels.