A team at Ohio State Medical Center says the hormone aldosterone, which is known to increase blood pressure, also raises the diabetes risk.
Overall, those with the highest levels of aldosterone had twice the rate of diabetes, but it was even higher in certain ethnicities.
"Among African Americans, there was almost a 3-fold increase in the risk of diabetes over 10 years, and among Asian-Americans, or Chinese-Americans, specifically, there was about a 10-fold increase," said Dr. Joshua Joseph.
The doctors are about to launch a test to see if drugs that lower aldosterone prevent diabetes in African Americans with pre-diabetes.
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