As people from developing countries move from rural areas to cities, stress increase is affecting their hormonal levels and making them more susceptible to diabetes and other metabolic disorders, according to a new study published in 'Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism '(JCEM).
Nearly 387 million people worldwide have diabetes, with 77% of them living in low and medium -sized countries, according to the International Diabetes Federation.In the Middle East and North Africa, one in ten adults suffers from diabetes.
One of the factors that can raise the risk of developing diabetes and other metabolic problems of a person is the chronic exposure to cortisol stress hormone, which counteracts insulin, the hormone that regulates blood sugar, and delays its production inThe body.
"Our findings indicate that people who pass from a rural lifestyle to an urban environment are exposed to high levels of stress and tend to record higher levels of cortisol hormone," says one of the study authors, Peter Herbert Kann, from the Philipp University of Marburg, Germany."This stress is probably contributing to the growing diabetes rates that we see in developing nations," he adds.
study of an ethnic group in Namibia
To prove the theory, the researchers examined people from an ethnic group, the Ovahimba population of Namibia, in southwest Africa.Namibia is the second most densely populated country in the world, with 38.6% of residents living in urban environments.
In the prospective and transversal study, researchers measured cortisol levels, blood sugar and cholesterol in 60 ovahimba people living in Opuwo, capital of the Kunene region, in the northeastern country, and which has a populationof around 21,000 people.
Then, the scientists conducted the same tests in 63 Ovahimba people who live at least 50 kilometers from the closest city or town.
Among the inhabitants of the cities, 28% of people suffered from diabetes or other glucose metabolism disorders and also had significantly higher cortisol levels than their rural counterparts.
Although those who lived in the city did less exercise and ate more fast food and desserts than rural residents, lifestyle changes are not the only factor in play, according to Kann.The difference in cortisol levels indicates that hormone is a key part of the equation.
"The results suggest that sociocultural instability caused by urbanization contributes to an increased risk of developing diabetes or other metabolic disease," Kann summarizes."This is the first prospective study that systematically shows that the regulation of the body of the cortisol hormone plays a role in the metabolic changes caused by the passage to an urban lifestyle," he says.