ABSTRACT
The prevalence and incidence of type II diabetes is substantially higher in Mexican Americans than in non-Hispanic whites. This fact—combined with an earlier age of onset and the younger age structure of the Mexican–American population—makes diabetes a major public health problem in this ethnic group and one that to a greater extent than in non-Hispanics strikes individuals in the prime of life. The high prevalence of type II diabetes in Mexican Americans has been documented in several studies including three from Texas, one from New Mexico, one from Colorado, and the Hispanic Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which included all southwestern states. Among the most powerful arguments for major environmental influences on the development of type II diabetes are the "epidemics" of this disease which have been documented in several underdeveloped societies throughout the world. These epidemics have typically coincided with a relatively rapid change from a traditional—hunter-gatherer or subsistence farming—life-style to a modernized or westernized life-style.
