High Altitude Might Cause Diabetes

A study conducted at the Mount Everest found that long time exposure to the high altitude develop mechanism that is associated with type 2 diabetes. Professor Mike Grocott, University of Southampton, United Kingdom, who led the team and summited the Everest told Healthy Lifestyle program that people who worked at the Everest base camp for a longer time have increased their levels of insulin or glucose intolerance. “That is something commonly predisposed towards diabetes,” he said. Dr. Grocott also found that insulin condition in healthy people at the Everest base camp become comparable to that of obese people at sea level. The study was published in the journal PLoS ONE on April 14, less than a week after Healthy Lifestyle reported the death of a Tibetan mountaineer caused by diabetes, sourcing the Chinese official reports. The researchers are currently assessing their study on Sharpas to see whether the local people have better glucose tolerance at higher altitude. Dr. Grocott, however has said that in general, the diabetes control is harder to do at higher altitude. Grocott and his team conducted the research in 2007 and 2013 at the Everest with a group of climbers. Another research conducted in 2002 at the Mount Chouyu looked at the effects of altitude on Type 1 Diabetes patients. Professor Angelo Avogaro from Universty of Padova, who led the research, says that the patient's requirement of insulin doubled as they ascended the 8201 meter high pick.