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Diabetes 'Catastrophe' Warning
posted 08/28/03
Over 300 million now have Pre-Diabetes and expected to grow
to 472 million says, the President of the International Diabetes Federation (IDF),
who is calling for changes in eating habits and lifestyle.
One of Britain's most senior doctors warned yesterday that we
are heading for "one of the biggest health catastrophes that the world has ever
seen" as diabetes spreads across the globe. He called for the government to take
action to stop people risking their health by overeating.
Professor Sir George Alberti, president of the International Diabetes Federation
(IDF) and an influential figure in formulating the government's health policy
warned of the coming catastrophe. "The financial and social burden of the
disease will be intolerable if governments do not sit up and take notice now,"
he said.
According to figures released today by the IDF, more than 300 million people
around the world are believed to have impaired glucose tolerance, a condition
which often precedes diabetes in which the body struggles to process the amount
of sugar in the calorific foods being consumed.
There are already 1.7 million people with diabetes in Britain. A further 2.1
million have impaired glucose tolerance and are therefore at serious risk of
diabetes, which can cause blindness, kidney failure and nerve damage and can be
fatal if not treated.
People with type 2 diabetes are at increased risk of heart attack and stroke.
"The enormous frustration is that most of this is preventable through
lifestyle," said Prof Alberti. "This needs political and social action. The
government should make much more noise about the need for physical activity. The
messages I keep giving are eat less and walk more and have a jog or buy a dog
just to get more exercise.
"Half the adults in the UK are overweight or obese. The government is not
aggressive enough about telling people to eat less."
Ministers should set aside their fears of being accused of running a nanny state
and tackle the schools, he said.
"A lot of this has to start with children. We should not be allowing sweet drink
machines to be present in schools. The sweet drink people are very clever
because they give the schools some money and then they get their sweet drink
machine. Fizzy or natural water are fine. And what the government has done in
introducing fruit into schools is superb."
Prof Alberti said he was worried about ethnic minority communities in Britain.
"What we're seeing among south Asian adults is that it will soon be more normal
to be abnormal with glucose than normal.
"We're running close to 20% diabetes in some of our ethnic minority groups and
that is going to go up to 30% plus. Afro-Caribbeans are headed in the same
direction."
The new global figures for impaired glucose tolerance were published yesterday
in the IDF's new Diabetes Atlas and show a seriously worsening situation since
the same survey was last done three years ago.
"The figures are probably one-third worse than we had anticipated," said Prof
Alberti.
The number of people with impaired glucose tolerance is expected to rise to 472
million by 2025 from 314 million people currently. About 70% of them will
develop diabetes. About 194 million people (5.1% of the world's population) have
diabetes.
The numbers are expected to soar in developing countries as the unhealthy diet
and urban lifestyles of the affluent world are exported.
Source: Diabetes In Control Dot Com.
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