While the exact causes of diabetes are still not fully understood, it is known that factors up the risk of developing different types of diabetes mellitus.
For type 2 diabetes, this includes being overweight or obese (having a body mass index - BMI - of 30 or greater).
In fact, obesity is believed to account for 80-85% of the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, while recent research suggests that obese people are up to 80 times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those with a BMI of less than 22.