Warning against twin epidemics of diabetes and obesity

Urgent action is needed to avert a global public health crisis, a new report from international diabetes and obesity organisations has warned.

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.

The report states that 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 a part but it is not sufficient on its own, it says.

"In particular for our children, policies and legislation need to ensure safe play outdoors, safe transport to and from school on foot and bicycle and protection from highly influential advertising which promotes inappropriate (and unnecessary) consumption of energy dense food and drink," the report says.

Already one in three Americans born today is predicted to develop diabetes as a consequence of obesity. Diabetes alone affects 194 million people worldwide and it is estimated 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 Pierre Lefèbvre, president of the International Diabetes Federation.

Obesity and overweight now often affect an alarming 50-65 per cent 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, about 61 per cent 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 per cent of the population being obese by 2025.

Obesity, particularly abdominal obesity, is not only a major risk factor for type two 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.