366 Million People Worldwide Now Have Diabetes, Experts Say

By Maria Cheng, Associated Press

LONDON -- An estimated 366 million people worldwide now suffer from diabetes and the global epidemic is getting worse, health officials said Tuesday.

The International Diabetes Federation described the number of cases as "staggering," with one person dying from diabetes every seven seconds.

The federation called for concrete measures to stop the epidemic, urging officials focusing on chronic diseases at a United Nations meeting next week to commit to specific targets to prevent cases and to invest in more research. Experts also said diabetes care should be integrated into local health clinics.

"The clock is ticking for the world's leaders," Jean Claude Mbanya, the group's president, said in a statement. "We expect action from their meeting next week at the United Nations that will halt diabetes' relentlessly upwards trajectory."

The figures were announced in Lisbon, Portugal, during the European meeting of the group, an umbrella organization that represents associations from more than 160 countries.

It estimated that diabetes causes 4.6 million deaths every year and that health systems spend $465 billion annually fighting the disease. That includes both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes mainly affects children and young adults, who are unable to make insulin. Type 2 diabetes is more common and is often tied to obesity. It develops when the body doesn't produce enough insulin to break down glucose, inflating blood sugar levels.

The disease can be managed with diet, exercise and medication but chronically high blood sugar levels causes nerve damage, which can result in kidney disease, blindness and amputation.

In June, a study published in the medical journal Lancet estimated the global number of diabetes had more than doubled in the last three decades and put the figure at 347 million.

Experts said much of the rise in diabetes cases was due to aging populations – since diabetes typically hits in middle age – and population growth, but that obesity rates had also fueled the disease's spread.

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Comments

[NealPaisley]

11:52 AM on 09/25/2011

The world eats too much 'white'- flour, rice, potatoes, sugar. Not enough whole, and definitely too many carbs, but with this many people on the world, how do you supply the calories that are beneficial? Cheap and abundant food, and we need lots of it, are unfortunately the 'whites'.

Look at the poor in America, it's not lack of exercise or too many calories, though I'm sure that plays a part. It's the choices they have, the inexpensive choices, to feed themselves. Check out some Indian tribes, slim and fit before the reservation, flour and sugar. Fry-bread anyone?

The poor make do, flour is cheap, and you can make it palatable with a bit of sugar. Potatoes, also real cheap, can be served in such a variety of ways that it's a new meal every day. Rice as well, if we ate traditional Japanese, we'd be eating that, but no potatoes, very little to no sugar and flour, and more vegetables. An over-simplification to be sure, but very close to the truth I'm also sure.

[GuddhaVonChuda]

03:19 PM on 09/13/2011

Should we tax diabetics more? Maybe charge them more for insurance? If liberals had their way, we would.

[NealPaisley]

11:41 AM on 09/25/2011

Whaaaa.....? That's one of the most pandering posts I've seen in weeks! Congrats!

[Ranveig Elvebakk]

12:59 PM on 09/13/2011

The diabetic epidemic is not due to the aging population, it is due to the fact that we don't do anything about it except treat it as it as a growth commodity on the stock market:
Much like the banking industry and corporations are being enabled, we enable the medico-pharmaceutical industry to keep information out of the way and sell us an ever more unsustainable bill of illusions. Diabetes type 2 is systemic sugar poisoning of the body and ridiculously easy to treat with nutrition. Remove the sugar. I will take on any case at any stage. That is what I do. Because we are so out of touch with nutrition, this has to be approached in an intelligent manner on a large scale.The answer is not in legislation or decrees by unhealthy people with better insurance than ours, popping pills and meeting in Swiss castles. It is in coming clean about it and enlisting everyone starting with me. Why? Because I am part of the 70% of Americans with a sugar-related health problem, it is just not called diabetes yet ---

[ArtistrybyAngel]

04:18 PM on 09/13/2011

I completely agree. So much time & money spent meeting & talking about it, when we have studies that show that nutrition & exercise can actually REVERSE type 2 diabetes. Most (if not all) of our so-called chronic illness & diseases are nutrition & lifestyle related. People don't want to own up to their poor choices, so they look for pills, shots & quick fixes to make them feel better and 'manage' these issues. so the pharmaceutical companies continue to get rich, and our healthcare costs are ridiculous.

[mek0123]

10:42 AM on 09/13/2011

Can you say 'corn syrup' as a sweetner in almost EVERYTHING and lack of physical exercise is a big contributor? I am certain this a leading cause.