For type 2, location of fat matters.

• Position: Diabetics - Brief article

Obese individuals with excess visceral fat (abdominal fat that surrounds the body's internal organs) have an increased risk for the development of type 2 diabetes, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. By contrast, persons with excess abdominal subcutaneous fat (fat underneath the skin) were not at higher risk. "Among obese individuals, it is not necessarily how much fat a person has, but rather where the fat is located on a person that leads to diabetes," points out internist and senior author James de Lemos.

Using imaging methods to determine the location and function of body fat, researchers are able to identify obese persons who are at a higher risk for developing type 2 diabetes years before the disease appears...