"Diabetes to double globally by 2030

Report: If obesity continues, 366 million will have the disease

Updated: 11:00 a.m. ET April 26, 2004

WASHINGTON - Diabetes rates will double worldwide by 2030, to 366 million people with the disease, even if the obesity rate remains stable, an international team of researchers reported on Monday.

But the rate will go up even higher if, as expected, more and more people become overweight, eat a so-called Western diet and stop exercising, the researchers said.

“The total number of people with diabetes is projected to rise from 171 million in 2000 to 366 million in 2030,” the researchers wrote in the latest issue of Diabetes Care, published by the American Diabetes Association.

Diabetes is a disease in which the body does not produce or properly use insulin, a hormone needed to convert sugar, starches and other food into energy."

For more information on diabetes, visit the American Diabetes Association online at:

http://www.diabetes.org/type-2-diabetes.jsp

I believe this. Yesterday NPR did a story about WHO's concern about the health of developing nations.

Like ours, their societies are getting more technology (less physical labor), more spreadout (less walking, more driving), and gaining access to Western diets (more processed foods).

There are positives to this ... less hunger, better medicine, etc. But the other side equals a global epidemic.