25 June 2011 Last updated at 21:01 GMT
Diabetes rate 'doubles' - Imperial College and Harvard research suggests
The number of adults with diabetes in the world has more than doubled since 1980, according to a new study.
Researchers from Imperial College London and Harvard University analysed data from 2.7m people across every continent, using statistical techniques to project a worldwide figure.
They claim the total number of people with diabetes - which can be fatal - has risen from 153m to 347m.
The authors called for better detection and treatment to combat the rise.
The study was published in The Lancet medical journal.
Its authors said 70% of the rise was down to people living longer.
The rise has been most pronounced in the Pacific Islands. In the Marshall Islands a third of all women have the condition.
Majid Ezzati, of Imperial College London, said: "Diabetes is becoming more common almost everywhere in the world.
"Unless we develop better programs for detecting people with elevated blood sugar and helping them to control their weight, diabetes will continue to impose a major burden on health systems around the world."
Diabetes leads to inadequate blood sugar control, which can damage the kidneys and cause blindness. It can also cause heart disease and strokes.
The condition is closely linked with obesity. Patients have to inject themselves with insulin.
Of developed nations, the US had the highest prevalence. The diabetes rate was relatively low in western Europe.
The study, carried out in conjunction with the World Health Organisation, found that the diabetes rate had either risen or stayed the same in virtually every country.
Spending on diabetes medicines - already worth £22bn annually - could hit £30bn by 2015, according to drug research firm IMS Health.
Dennis Urbaniak, of pharmaceutical firm Sanofi, said: "This is a chronic, progressive condition.
"What we are most worried about is the number of people out there with diabetes that is not optimally controlled."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13917263
Diabetes.
Diabetes.
Two interesting articles on the front page of today's BBC website.
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: Diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes in newly diagnosed 'can be reversed'
An extreme eight-week diet of 600 calories a day can reverse Type 2 diabetes in people newly diagnosed with the disease, says a Diabetologia study.
Newcastle University researchers found the low-calorie diet reduced fat levels in the pancreas and liver, which helped insulin production return to normal.
Seven out of 11 people studied were free of diabetes three months later, say findings published in the journal.
More research is needed to see whether the reversal is permanent, say experts.
Type 2 diabetes affects 2.5m people in the UK. It develops when not enough insulin is produced in the body or the insulin that is made by the body doesn't work properly.
When this happens, glucose - a type of sugar - builds up in the blood instead of being broken down into energy or fuel which the body needs.
The 11 participants in the study were all diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes within the previous four years.
They cut their food intake drastically for two months, eating only liquid diet drinks and non-starchy vegetables.
Fat loss
After one week of the diet, researchers found that the pre-breakfast blood sugar levels of all participants had returned to normal.
MRI scans of their pancreases also revealed that the fat levels in the organ had decreased from around 8% - an elevated level - to a more normal 6%.
Three months after the end of the diet, when participants had returned to eating normally and received advice on healthy eating and portion size, most no longer suffered from the condition.
Professor Roy Taylor, director of Newcastle Magnetic Resonance Centre at Newcastle University and lead study author, said he was not suggesting that people should follow the diet.
"This diet was only used to test the hypothesis that if people lose substantial weight they will lose their diabetes.
"Although this study involved people diagnosed with diabetes within the last four years, there is potential for people with longer-standing diabetes to turn things around too."
Dr Ee Lin Lim, also from Newcastle University's research team, said that although dietary factors were already known to have an impact on Type 2 diabetes, the research showed that the disease did not have to be a life sentence.
"It's easy to take a pill, but harder to change lifestyle for good. Asking people to shift weight does actually work," she said.
However, not everyone in the study managed to stay free of diabetes.
"It all depends on how much individuals are susceptible to diabetes. We need to find out why some people are more susceptible than others, then target these obese people. We can't know the reasons for that in this study," Dr Lim said.
Professor Edwin Gale, a diabetes expert from the University of Bristol, said the study did not reveal anything new.
"We have known that starvation is a good cure for diabetes. If we introduced rationing tomorrow, then we could get rid of diabetes in this country.
"If you can catch people with diabetes in the early stages while beta cells are still functioning, then you can delay its onset for years, but you will get it sooner or later because it's in the system."
But Keith Frayn, professor of human metabolism at the University of Oxford, said the Newcastle study was important.
"People who lose large amounts of weight following surgery to alter their stomach size or the plumbing of their intestines often lose their diabetes and no longer need treatment.
"This study shows that a period of marked weight loss can produce the same reversal of Type 2 diabetes.
"It offers great hope for many people with diabetes, although it must be said that not everyone will find it possible to stick to the extremely low-calorie diet used in this study."
Dr Iain Frame, director of research at Diabetes UK, which funded the study, said the diet was not an easy fix.
"Such a drastic diet should only be undertaken under medical supervision. Despite being a very small trial, we look forward to future results particularly to see whether the reversal would remain in the long term."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-13887909
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: Diabetes.
As I understand the concept behind controlling diabetes with diet, people have to eat around 600 calories a day for two months in order to alter their metabolism.
That is a very rigid regime, and one I am sure many won't stick too.
That is a very rigid regime, and one I am sure many won't stick too.
Bah!
Re: Diabetes.
Given the choice between two months of starvation vs a lifetime of meds or injections even, I'd go for the diet.
I'm not saying I'd stick it, but it's got to be worth a shot.
I'm not saying I'd stick it, but it's got to be worth a shot.
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: Diabetes.
I'm hoping to get to a point where I'm entirely diet controlled on my Diabetes. Currently, I've lost 20 lbs. and I'm now at the point where my blood sugar is getting to be low with my medication I'm hoping that when I've lost the other ~35 pounds I'll be at a point that my insulin will be controlled without medication at all. (or at the very least a significantly decreased dosage) It may be a little much to be hoping for but the last time I was at that wight I went from being "pre-diabetic" to normal and it's not unheard of that pancreas function normalizes at "normal" weights.
Okay... There's all kinds of things wrong with what you just said.
Re: Diabetes.
Good luck, and go well my friend!
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: Diabetes.
I would not recommend a 600 cal diet w/o medical supervision.
The danger of cutting calories too far is that you lose lean muscle and depress your basal metabolic rate. That is very difficult to reverse and causes a large 'rebound' in weight often to a much higher point than before.
Medically supervised weight loss programs often use about 960 cal/day to get an average loss of 2.5 - 3.5 lbs per week for 16 weeks.
yrs,
rubato
The danger of cutting calories too far is that you lose lean muscle and depress your basal metabolic rate. That is very difficult to reverse and causes a large 'rebound' in weight often to a much higher point than before.
Medically supervised weight loss programs often use about 960 cal/day to get an average loss of 2.5 - 3.5 lbs per week for 16 weeks.
yrs,
rubato