Nearly one in five New Zealanders over the age of 15 have a blood disorder that precedes Type 2 diabetes, a finding described as "alarming" by experts.
The finding came from a University of Otago study involving blood sampling of 4721 Kiwis aged 15 years and older, which showed 19 per cent had glucose metabolism disorder. The pre-diabetes disorder typically leads to the disease.
Lead researcher Dr Kirsten Coppell from the university's Edgar National Centre for Diabetes and Obesity Research said she was shocked at the high prevalence of pre-diabetes.
"These data, when compared with the first measurements taken in 1967, provide convincing evidence that the prevalence of diabetes in New Zealand has increased over time. This is consistent with observations worldwide."
"It's impacting people younger and it's causing huge morbidity. People have got to realise that our lifestyle is killing us."
Eating less processed food and exercising more were positive lifestyle changes that could help improve the statistics.
Dr Coppell said the pre-diabetes rates added to an already-high national diabetes rate and should be a major concern to policymakers and health funders.
"The implications of increased diabetes-related morbidity, mortality and health care costs are considerable," she said.
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3 comments:
I am beginning to wonder if there is a common denominator other than lifestyle that has not been discovered. There are plenty of people diagnosed with Type2 who eat well and do exercise. There are plenty who have a bad lifestyle and do not develop Type2.
Many illnesses are not straight forward and research needs to be done. I do think if you eat healthily and take exercise it doesn't do any harm.
I think this article re 'Nearly one in five New Zealanders over the age of 15 have a blood disorder that precedes Type 2 diabetes' and the 'direct sugar-to-diabetes link'
could be linked. With all of us eating more processed foods than we ever did and the amount of hidden sugars that are in them is it any wonder diabetes is on the increase? True there are some slim Type 2's but I think the majority are not and does it matter? Eating too much sugar can not be good for health reasons. We do not need all the extra sugar added because there is enough naturally in foods.
This comment should appear on both, so apologies if you are reading it twice - you are.
Jean
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