Lower incidence of diabetes and obesity living at higher elevations

Owen Lucas

Owen Lucas

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Effects of High Altitude on Diabetes and Obesity | Cedars-Sinai

Adults living at high altitudes have been shown to have lower prevalence of diabetes and obesity than those at lower altitudes.
www.cedars-sinai.edu www.cedars-sinai.edu

"Adults in the United States living in high altitudes have better glucose homeostasis, which is associated with lower odds of having diabetes, than those living at altitudes below 500 meters."

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Explaining the Inverse Association between Altitude and Obesity

To better understand the inverse association between altitude and adult obesity. An ecological study design was used, involving 3,108 counties in the contiguous United States. Data were from several national sources, and assessment involved various ...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

"Hypoxia can occur at altitudes of 1,500 meters or higher. Physiological responses increase with more severe hypoxia, which can occur from higher altitude exposure. Hypoxia may change glucose metabolism and control appetite by altering the function of the nervous system and hormonal levels (e.g., plasma leptin). Hypoxia associated with higher altitude may also be protective against diabetes, cancer, heart disease, and stroke.

Previous results suggest a synergistic effect of physical activity and hypoxic exposure on body weight that may underlie the beneficial effect of living at altitude. This is consistent with the finding in the current study that physical inactivity was not sufficient to explain obesity. It has been shown that the combination of hypoxic exposure and exercise compared with exercise alone produces more favorable improvements in fasting insulin, insulin sensitivity, triglycerides, and body fat content. Furthermore, as hypoxia contributes to better cardiovascular health and positive clinical implications, greater physical activity may be possible."

Hmm, where's a nice high altitude city to move to?

Prescott? Flagstaff? Denver?
 
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They're implying that the altitude alone is beneficial.
I loved the language used. It included, "covariates...potential confounders...logistic regression to control for multiple risk factors"
I wonder if age demographics....income variations....prevalent employment patterns were addressed?

And don't forget exclusion of the residents of the 6 campus locations of "Mountain Bob's Diabetes Camps and Treatment Centers".
 
Kira said:
I wonder if age demographics....income variations....prevalent employment patterns were addressed?
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Considering all of these peoples mitochondria probably work the same, IDK how their employment would make a difference?

I'm not a statistician so I don't really understand the details of your observation but it seems the correlation is pretty strong here and the science makes sense.

Just looked up cancer and elevation:

"Humans living at high altitude (HA) are exposed to chronic (hypobaric) hypoxia. Despite the permanent stress of hypoxic exposure, humans populating HA areas have reduced cancer mortality over a broad spectrum of cancer types. In fact, the majority of the physiological adaptive processes at HA occurring in response to hypoxia might be the driving force for reduced cancer mortality at HA."

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

High Altitude and Cancer Mortality - PubMed

Thiersch, Markus, and Erik R. Swenson. High altitude and cancer mortality. High Alt Med Biol 19:116-123, 2018.-Humans living at high altitude (HA) are exposed to chronic (hypobaric) hypoxia. Despite the permanent stress of hypoxic exposure, humans populating HA areas have reduced cancer...
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
 
Passport1 said:
This study wilfully ignores the greater incidence of diabetes in perhaps the low country of South Carolina compared to people living above 6000' might have other contributing factors.
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I was also thinking along this same direction. High altitude communities tend to have more outdoor recreation opportunities. People that love outdoor activities tent to move to places like Colorado, Idaho and Utah. Active people are going to be healthier, and have lower occurrences of these diseases.

(Don't move to Utah. It's a horrible place to live. Stay where you are. It's a lot better, I'm sure. Move to Colorado instead.)
 
bullwinkle said:
Makes sense-the human body is going to expend more energy & burn more calories at higher elevations just breathing, since oxygen content of the air is less. Easier at sea level.
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I didn't realize how much harder it is to breath until I got to the summit of Mt Evans (14,264ft).
Just walking took a lot more than usual effort and running much more effort.
 
The study looks pretty broad, and the methods made an attempt to account for other factors.

"An ecological study design was used, involving 3,108 counties in the contiguous United States. Data were from several national sources, and assessment involved various statistical techniques, including multiple regression analysis."
 
Owen Lucas said:
Hmm, where's a nice high altitude city to move to?

Prescott? Flagstaff? Denver?
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Leadville CO.


Leadville, Colorado - Wikipedia


Leadville is the highest incorporated city in the United States and is surrounded by two of the tallest peaks in the state. Leadville is a former silver mining town that lies among the headwaters of the Arkansas River within the Rocky Mountains.
 
Owen Lucas said:
10,158′ wow

Cute town, pop 2600, looks comfy.

The name isn't very inspiring though!
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There is a story about the name. Back in the mining days there were all kind of "gold" this and "silver" that towns and communities. Leadville wanted to distinguish itself somehow, so hence the name they chose. We had a good stay there. Check it out.
 
I bet this has more to do with active lifestyles in these high altitude communities than the altitude itself, as @BHopkins said.

Fats love to do nothing and buy junk at Walmart. I can’t picture many Walmarts at any locations above 6,000 feet.
 
sloinker said:
I think red blood cell count is statistically higher in people that live at higher altitudes. Seems I heard that tidbit somewhere along the way.
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I don't think red blood cell count has much to do with a fasting glucose reading. I think people residing in higher altitude locations may be statistically more active with less obesity.
 
RhondaHonda said:
I bet this has more to do with active lifestyles in these high altitude communities than the altitude itself, as @BHopkins said.

Fats love to do nothing and buy junk at Walmart. I can’t picture many Walmarts at any locations above 6,000 feet.
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That was exactly my point above.

Some of these studies need studies.

Look at the "blue zones" around the world. These people live longer because THEY ARE ACTIVE!
 
Pablo said:
Sure there are other factors. I won't deny that. But they are all active!!
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Obviously being active, eating well, etc - leads to a longer life. Not in dispute.

But in regards to the OP about altitude - if you look at somewhere like Maine or Oregon or California, where people are also active, if they have still a higher incidence of diabetes then there may be something to the altitude thing? Just saying, the NIH tries to normalize these things.

South Carolina has likely the highest diabetes rate. Is it because were all fat (very possible), or at sea level, or does it have something to do with 40% of our population is ethnicities that have a higher incidence of it everywhere? Likely all of these reasons?

If you have a dog you live longer. Is it because of the dog? Probably not - its likely due to lowered stress. The blue zones are in places like Okinawa and Costa Rica - sign me up. Yes there active, but have lower stress vs someone in NYC.

You can normalize studies for age, etc. But its more difficult to normalize for behavior and stress, for exmple.
 
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