Diabetes continues to escalate in UK

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Diabetes continues to escalate in UK

 

15/10/2004 - The number of people with diabetes has surged to 1.8

million in the UK, increasing by 400,000 in just eight years, showed

new figures out last week.

 

Most of these -1.5 million – are suffering from type 2 diabetes, and a

further million are likely to have the condition without being

diagnosed yet, said the new report from Diabetes UK.

 

The number of people with the condition, now 3 per cent of the

population, will continue to rise as the population ages and becomes

more overweight, noted the charity.

 

Douglas Smallwood, chief executive of Diabetes UK, noted: " Many of the

worst effects of diabetes can be avoided. We cannot afford to wait

until people have heart attacks or have problems with their sight or

kidneys before they get the care they need. "

 

The report underlines the huge task that faces the UK government. It

has already provided funding worth £2.7 million (€4m) through its Food

Standards Agency for a four year study that will look at the impact of

fat and carbohydrate on the chances of developing a collection of risk

factors linked to heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

 

" Scientific studies on the optimum dietary strategy for reducing the

risk of the metabolic syndrome are limited, " said Dr Julie Lovegrove,

lead researcher from the University of Reading, when the study was

announced.

 

The global incidence of these risk factors, collectively known as the

`metabolic syndrome', is soaring. The clinical conditions linked to

the metabolic syndrome are obesity, type 2 diabetes, abnormal blood

fats and raised blood pressure. Each of these conditions is a

risk-factor for the metabolic syndrome in its own right, but if

individuals have more than one of these conditions the risk is multiplied.

 

Risk factors associated with metabolic syndrome – which affects up to

25 per cent of UK adults - include obesity, raised blood pressure and

abnormal blood fat levels. In most cases, development of the metabolic

syndrome is caused by eating too much of the wrong kind of foods and

taking too little exercise.

 

Further research into the impact of diet on these risk factors could

however help supplement and functional food makers offer products

designed to reduce risk for some of the thousands forecast to develop

the disease.

 

And while there is little evidence so far to support either the safety

or efficacy of nutritional supplements in helping to improve

diabetes-related conditions, there are some foods and nutrients, such

as dark chocolate and magnesium, that warrant further investigation,

Dr Michael Quon, chief of the diabetes unit of the US National Center

for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) told

NutraIngredients.com earlier this year.

 

Governments should see this type of research as an important strategy

for reducing costs. Five per cent of the UK's National Health Service

budget or around £10 million a day is currently spent on treating

diabetes and its effects. NHS spending on the condition is predicted

to rise to 10 per cent by 2011.

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