Twelve million Americans have diabetes but the incidence is highest in minorities - Native Americans, Hispanics and blacks. Hispanics are three times as likely to develop diabetes as the general population; 40% of the 700,000 victims in Texas are Mexican-Americans. San Antonio (50% Hispanic) is the center of diabetes investigation, at the University of Texas Health Center, which has attracted a team of investigators from Yale. Researchers are reaching out to the population by taking a mobile home, equipped to test for the disease, out to city neighborhoods. The study was funded with $800,000 grant money from the National Institutes of Health. They believe that poor hispanics' diet, lack of exercise and medical care increases the risk.
Twelve million Americans have diabetes but the incidence is highest in minorities - Native Americans, Hispanics and blacks. Hispanics are three times as likely to develop diabetes as the general population; 40% of the 700,000 victims in Texas are Mexican-Americans. San Antonio (50% Hispanic) is the center of diabetes investigation, at the University of Texas Health Center, which has attracted a team of investigators from Yale. Researchers are reaching out to the population by taking a mobile home, equipped to test for the disease, out to city neighborhoods. Ultimately they hope to locate a gene presidposing to the disease, which might lead to a screening test. They believe that poor hispanics' diet, lack of exercise and medical care increases the risk.