Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Those Born First have a Higher Risk of getting Diabetes and/or Heart Disease

Link to article: http://www.livescience.com/43156-firstborns-higher-bmi-diabetes-risks.html

According to the article linked above, scientific findings show that people who were the firstborn in their family have a higher risk of getting heart disease or diabetes than that of their younger siblings.  In the article, it is mentioned that these findings were found by New Zealand researchers who tested the body mass index (BMI) and insulin sensitivity of overweight men ages 40 to 50 that are first born and second born in their family.  The results showed that the firstborn's BMI is 29 and the second born's BMI is 27.5.  The higher the BMI, the higher the risk is for get heart disease.  The other results are that the firstborns were, on average, 15 pounds heavier than the second born.  And, that the insulin sensitivity levels for the firstborn was 33% lower than the sensitivity of the second born.  The lower the insulin sensitivity, the higher the risk for Type 2 Diabetes.   Other research that is mentioned in the article is that second borns weigh more than the first borns when they are born, but the first borns grow faster than the second borns.  Also, the first borns have higher daytime blood pressure, higher cholesterol as they age, and low insulin sensitivity.

NOS Themes:

  • Science is collaborative
  • Science is based on evidence
  • Role of credibility
  • Importance of repeatability
  • Role of motivation and curiosity  

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