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| Monday, 15 November 2004 |
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Diabetes and obesity: urgent action needed Urgent action is needed to avert a global public health crisis, a new report from international diabetes and obesity organisations warns today. For the first time leading global obesity and diabetes organisations
have come together to provide recommendations for stemming the twin
epidemics which threaten to explode in the coming decade. Obesity is a
major modifiable risk factor for one type of diabetes (type 2 diabetes).
Diabetes and Obesity: time to Act,' the new report launched at the 13th
European Congress on Obesity in Prague, states that action is required
from individuals, healthcare professionals, industry and policy makers.
Strategies must encourage and facilitate physical activity and a healthy diet, and control access to energy dense foods and drinks. Health promotion, particularly in relation to diet, weight control and physical activity, can play apart but it is not sufficient on its own. In particular for our children, policies and legislation need to ensure safe play outdoors, safe transport to and from school by foot and bicycle, and protection from highly influential advertising which promotes inappropriate (and unnecessary) consumption of energy dense food and drink. Already one in three Americans born today is predicted to develop diabetes as a consequence of obesity. Diabetes alone currently affects 194 million people worldwide and IDF figures predict that this will increase to 333 million by 2025, with a massive burden in developing countries. However, "the rising levels of obesity worldwide are likely to drive the prevalence of diabetes even higher than present forecasts", stressed Professor Pierre Lefebvre, President of the International Diabetes Federation (IDF). Obesity and overweight now often affects an alarming 50-65% of a nation's population not only in the USA, Europe and Australia but also in lower to moderate income countries such as Mexico, Egypt and the black population of South Africa. In the United States alone approximately 61% of adults in the 20-74 years age range are now considered overweight or obese. In Europe the United Kingdom has demonstrated the most rapid increase in obesity alone which if it continues at the rate of the past 20 years could double from its 2000 level to more than 40% of the population being obese by 2025. Obesity, particularly abdominal obesity, is not only a major risk factor for type 2 diabetes but also for other non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease (heart attack and stroke). Today diabetes and other non-communicable diseases related to obesity account for more deaths each year worldwide than AIDS. If ethnic differences for defining obesity are taken into account, then recent estimates of the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) suggest that up to 1.7 billion of the world's population are already at a heightened risk of weight-related non-communicable diseases. It is estimated that at least half of all diabetes cases would be eliminated if weight gain could be prevented. Particularly worrying are the rates of overweight and obesity in children, due to progressive inactivity and increases in the energy density of the diets of almost all countries over the last 20 years. In the United States, the prevalence of excess weight and obesity in adolescents has nearly tripled in the past two decades, reaching 14% of those aged 12 to 19 years in 1999. In other developed and increasingly in developing countries too, the prevalence of excess weight and obesity in children is rising yearly. This gives a grim forecast for the next generation, predicting earlier deaths and disability from the health consequences of both excess weight and diabetes. "Governments and business communities have a vital role to play in fighting the current 'obesogenic' environment," said Professor Claude Bouchard, President of the International Association for the Study of Obesity (IASO). "It is already late but a global effort can transform diets and restore physical activity into our daily lives. It is time to act now." * * * 'Diabetes and Obesity: Time to Act,' a joint project by IDF and the International Obesity Task Force of IASO and sponsored by an educational grant from Roche, is a non-specialist publication aimed at raising awareness of obesity being a major risk factor for type 2 diabetes, while recommending courses of action to lobby governments for investment in prevention programmes and strategies. Written by leading figures in the field of diabetes and nutrition, the publication includes detailed chapters on the current scale of the diabetes pandemic around the world and future predictions, as well as new figures on the growing worldwide prevalence of obesity. In addition, a key part of the publication includes information on reducing the risks of becoming obese and getting diabetes, treatment strategies or obesity-related disorders and guidelines for prevention programmes and screening for diabetes. The publication is available in English and will soon be available in French and Spanish. (Courtesy: International Diabetes Federation) ###### Overweight and obesity facts 1. The prevalence of obesity is rising to epidemic proportions at an alarming rate in both developed and developing countries worldwide. 2. More than 1 billion adults worldwide are overweight and at least 300 million of these are clinically obese (a body mass index, BMI, of 30 or over). 3. Obesity is the main modifiable risk factor for type 2 diabetes. 4. 1.7 billion of the world's population is already at a heightened risk of weight related non-communicable diseases such as type 2 diabetes. 5. Overweight is now the most common medical condition of childhood. 6. Obesity can reduce the life expectancy of people with type 2 diabetes by up to eight years. 7. 80% of people are overweight when they are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. 8. Each kilogram increase in weight of the population increases the risk of diabetes by almost 5%. 9. Overweight adolescents have a 70% chance of becoming overweight or obese adults and this increases to 80% if one on both parents are overweight or obese. 10. It is estimated that at least half of cases of type 2 diabetes would be prevented if weight gain in adults could be avoided. 11. Lifestyle interventions, including diet and moderate physical activity can reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by as much as 60%. |
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