Elucidation of social factors lurking in diabetes risk

For an assistant professor of sociology, James Dusset Battle, studying diabetes is personal. His grandmother was diabetic, and that’s part of what inspired him to delve into the problem through the lens of African-American experience.

“I’m interested in this notion that there is a racial component to the risk of type 2 diabetes,” he said. “I wanted to figure out how African Americans, and more and more Latinos, are being taken up as examples of high-risk type 2 diabetic populations.”

Diabetes Medical condition It affects the body’s ability to adjust Blood glucose level, And in type 2 diabetes, the cells become insulin resistant. Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas that helps cells convert blood sugar levels into energy. African Americans are much more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than White Americans. but why? And what is the impact of this disparity?

These are some of the questions Doucet-Battle wanted to investigate. And now his new book, “Blood sweetness: race, risk, type 2 diabetes, ”Capture discoveries from that journey in a way that challenges racial assumptions within Diabetes research..

In the first phase of the project, Doucet-Battle studied how a group of African-Americans with diabetes interact with researchers, medical professionals, and diabetic techniques such as glucose meters. In particular, he wanted to clarify how the history of racism in the United States affected trust between the African-American community and biomedical researchers.

Doucet-Battle also studied efforts by Silicon Valley-based biotechnology companies to design diabetes risk algorithms and how they survived the competition in predicting health outcomes. The company was looking for a test group of African Americans and a group of participants from Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. The fact that both Mauritius and parts of the United States were once sugar colonies struck Doucet-Battle. It launched him into a study of how the global geography of diabetes reflects the history of colonialism and slavery.

He also worked with epidemiologists, molecular biologists, and genomicists across the country to look for diabetic risk factors for mitochondrial DNA, a maternal genetic chromosome that plays an important role in human metabolic adaptation to environmental changes. .. Through this study, which spurred the 2013 mapping of Henrietta Lacks maternally derived HeLa cell genomes and epigenomes, he demonstrates the importance of analyzing gender before examining the social composition of race. ..

Ultimately, Doucet-Battle says that researchers who want to better understand the risk of diabetes “risk is created as socially, culturally, politically and economically as it is biologically.” He says more attention should be paid to social factors.

For example, type 2 diabetes is strongly associated with body weight, and many people with type 2 diabetes may be able to reduce or eliminate their dependence on drugs through diet and exercise, he explained. Similarly, people with prediabetes can reduce their risk of developing the disease. However, Doucet-Battle states that “the country’s cultural and economic impulses are mitigating it.” And one of those factors is inequality in access to physical activity.

“Here in Santa Cruz County, you can stay relatively healthy by climbing up and down the lush hills of the Central Coast, but for many, the 180-minute aerobic exercise recommended per week is very good. It’s difficult to do, “he said. “Especially if you live in an area that is scarce, unsafe, or aesthetically difficult.”

In his future research, Doucet-Battle wants to continue investigating how barriers to physical activity affect it. Diabetes Risks and treatment outcomes. He is particularly interested in finding out in the area how COVID-19 is blocked. Poor air quality During the 2020 wildfire season in California, it affected the lives of diabetics. To study this, he is bringing together a team of undergraduate researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz. The building to which you belong A program run by the Institute for Social Change.

Overall, looking back on the experience of writing “Sweetness in the Blood,” Doucet-Battle states that it helped to visualize the crossroads of race, gender, history, and the production of scientific knowledge in new ways. .. His approach to research.

“I participated in this project as a medical anthropologist,” he said. “I was born then as a social scientist in science.”