Why is diabetes Type II a health concern for American indians?

Because, for some unknown reason, at least unknown to me, we seem to be more susceptible to it and have a much higher rate of it than the rest of the population.

More then 18 million Americans have diabetes and about a third don't know they have the disease. But American Indians, on average, are more likely to contract diabetes than any other ethnic group in the United States.

A 1998 Centers for Disease Control report on the prevalence of diabetes in people age 20 and older, showed 9 percent of American Indians and Alaska natives have diabetes, a rate that is nearly three times higher than non-Hispanic whites.

For more information see these web sites:

http://www.aaanativearts.com/article501.html

http://www.diabetesmonitor.com/b43.htm#23