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 San Antonio are Mexican-Americans. Texas (50% Hispanic) is the center of diabetes investigation, at the University of San Antonio 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.
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.