Purpose. To compare the risk for diabetes in each of 4 categories of metabolic health and BMI. Methods. Participants were drawn from the Cameron County Hispanic Cohort, a randomly selected Mexican American cohort in Texas on the US-Mexico border. Subjects were divided into 4 phenotypes according to metabolic health and BMI: metabolically healthy normal weight, metabolically healthy overweight/obese, metabolically unhealthy normal weight, and metabolically unhealthy overweight/obese. Metabolic health was defined as having less than 2 metabolic abnormalities. Overweight/obese status was assessed by BMI higher than 25 kg/m2. Diabetes was defined by the 2010 ADA definition or by being on a diabetic medication. Results. The odds ratio for diabetes risk was 2.25 in the metabolically healthy overweight/obese phenotype (95% CI 1.34, 3.79), 3.78 (1.57, 9.09) in the metabolically unhealthy normal weight phenotype, and 5.39 (3.16, 9.20) in metabolically unhealthy overweight/obese phenotype after adjusting for confounding factors compared with the metabolically healthy normal weight phenotype. Conclusions. Metabolic health had a greater effect on the increased risk for diabetes than overweight/obesity. Greater focus on metabolic health might be a more effective target for prevention and control of diabetes than emphasis on weight loss alone.

Background Epidemiologic studies have shown that inadequate physical activity was associated with cancers in whites and other ethnic groups, but in Mexican-Americans data are limited. This study aimed to measure the association between physical activity and reported cancer risk in Mexican-Americans. Methods Participants were drawn from the Cameron County Hispanic Cohort (n=3,391), a randomly selected Mexican-American cohort in Texas on the US-Mexico border. Physical activity was assessed using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. Cancer was self-reported by the participants as being told by a health care provider that they had cancer. Results Ninety-nine participants of the cohort (2.94%) reported a diagnosis of cancer. Compared to participants who did not meet US physical activity guidelines, subjects who met physical activity guidelines of 150 moderate and vigorous minutes per week (≥ 600 METs) reduced their risk for cancer by 87% (OR=0.13; 95% CI: 0.03–0.54), and subjects with total minutes per week of moderate and vigorous/strenuous activity greater than 745 METs decreased cancer risk by 86% [odds ratio (OR)=0.14; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.03–0.60] comparing with their counterparts, after adjusting for age, gender, body mass index, smoking and alcohol drinking status, education and total portions of fruit and vegetable intake. Conclusions Meeting or exceeding recommended levels of moderate and vigorous physical activity was associated with a significantly reduced risk of reporting cancer by Mexican-Americans. Meeting or exceeding recommended levels of physical activity appears to be an effective target for cancer prevention and control among Mexican-Americans independent of BMI and other factors.