But the less active lifestyle and the change to a highly processed North American diet is only part of the problem. While obesity rates rose from 20 to 25 percent in Chinese-Canadians over the study period, their European counterparts have also seen a similar increase, going up from 50 to 55 percent.

"It doesn't explain the whole story because the Europeans had a much higher rate of obesity to begin with, and a similar increase over time, so there must be other factors at play," he stressed.

A theory that could explain this spike is that certain ethnic groups and cultures are more susceptible to complications and problems associated with weight gain when compared to Europeans, Shah suggested.

The argument is that people from countries like China, India and Africa, places where food was scarcer would pack on the energy and nutrients whenever they had access to food, he said. Europeans, on the other hand, didn't have the same extent of food insecurity, and so those metabolic traits didn't develop to the same degree.

While Canadians of South Asian, Aboriginal, or African origin have traditionally been seen as the groups most susceptible to diabetes, the soaring numbers in the Chinese community suggests that targeted prevention strategies are necessary, said Shah.

"Once you get diabetes you've got it, there's no way to cure it, " he said. "We need to be more aggressive about screening for diabetes in Chinese-Canadians, and think more about diabetes prevention programs and weight maintenance, healthy lifestyle and behavior change programs."