Diabetes Among Minorities

Insulin resistance is the first stage in the development of diabetes. This study attempted to determine whether the physical fitness acquired through on-the-job physical activity influences whether an individual becomes insulin resistant and exhibits high fasting insulin levels. The biomarkers of adiponectin and apoB were also studied. The study suggests that a meatpacker’s adiponectin level is directly related to his level of physical fitness. Similarly, the study has shown, that fasting insulin, and therefore, insulin resistance, is inversely related to the meatpacker’s level of physical fitness. For the studied population of male Hispanic meatpackers in Dodge City, Kansas, there seems to be no relationship with physical fitness and his apoB level. The study did not directly establish that the physical fitness exhibited by the studied meatpackers was a result of on-the-job activity. Physical fitness, as measured by this study, was shown to be related to the meatpacker’s BMI, age, and HDL. The meatpacker’s job category and the minutes he exercised outside of work each week were not shown to be statistically related to his physical fitness measurements.

Roberta Martine completed her Ph.D. in Anthropology at the University of Colorado in Boulder, specializing in biological anthropology. She is currently a lecturer at Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kansas, and has been a visiting professor at Northwest University of Nationalities, Lanzhou, China, in the endocrinology department.