Why men have higher diabetes risk than women?

The study showed that men have 61 per cent higher prevalence and 46 per cent increased risk of developing Type 2 diabetes when compared with women.

London:Does diabetes affect men and women differently? The  answer according to  study, led by Alex O. Aregbesola from University of Eastern Finland, claims so.Men accumulate more iron than women making them prone to Type 2 diabetes, researchers said. Two-fifth of men as compared to one-fifth of women were at risk.

Excess body iron accumulation is a known risk factor of Type 2 diabetes in hereditary hemochromatosis -- a disorder that causes the body to absorb too much iron from the diet.

However, the study showed that even mildly elevated body iron contributes to the prevalence and incidence of Type 2 diabetes.

Iron depletion toward deficiency did not offer protection against Type 2 diabetes.

However, it is harmful when stored in excess in the body. It promotes the release of free radicals that damage the secretion capacity of beta cells of pancreas to produce insulin.

"This study provides a new body of evidence that mildly elevated body iron is an important risk factor of glucose metabolism derangement, which contributes to the increase in the prevalence and incidence of Type 2 diabetes," Aregbesola said, in the paper published in the journal Annals of Clinical Biochemistry.

(With IANS inputs)