Diabetes epidemic affecting 350m

Diabetes epidemic affecting 350m – and western fast food is to blame | Society | The Observer: "More than 350 million people in the world now have diabetes"

Nutritionist and Health Consultant in London Yvonne Bishop-Weston from Foods for Life said

"I don't mean to be cynical but this sudden media interest in Diabetes does sound like the start of a global PR campaign and I wouldn't be at all surprised if next month we hear there is a new wonder drug for sale"

"Type 2 diabetes can be quite efficiently controlled by diet, and in a number of recent studies Diabetic symptoms have been reversed, just through a high fibre, low fat , low GL plant based Plantarian or healthy vegan diet"

The article in the Guardian reveals

"Diabetes is one of the biggest causes of mortality worldwide, and our study has shown that it is becoming more common almost everywhere. It is set to become the single largest burden on world health care systems," one of the study's main authors, Professor Majid Ezzati, of Imperial College London, told the Observer. "Many nations are going to find it very difficult to cope with the consequences."

This point was backed by Martin Tobias of the ministry of health in New Zealand in an accompanying editorial for the Lancet. As he states, there is "no worldwide surveillance network for diabetes, as there is for communicable diseases such as influenza". Given the inexorable rise in case numbers that is now occurring, there was now "an urgent need" to establish proper monitoring of the disease, he added.

The study – funded by the World Health Organisation and the Gates Foundation – analysed blood from 2.7 million participants aged 25 and over from across the world over a three-year period. Doctors measured levels of glucose in their blood after they had fasted for 12 to 14 hours – blood sugar rises after a meal.