This type of diabetes is almost never found in individuals with a body mass index below 22 kg / sq.m. The prevalence of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and obesity is especially high in the Pima Indians. Moreover, the connection between diabetes and obesity is genetically determined: if at least one of the parents is ill with diabetes, the probability of developing this disease in the offspring (provided that they have obesity) is 100%, but if none of the parents has diabetes , the disease develops in less than 20% of obese offspring.
Obesity almost always precedes the development of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in monkeys, and the interval between the onset of obesity and the onset of diabetes varies from several months to several years. One of the earliest risk markers for diabetes in monkeys is insulin resistance . Like humans, the prevention of obesity in monkeys helps prevent diabetes.