Surge in diabetes in Canada

Thu, 17 Jun 2010
The growing incidence of obesity among Canadians is having a profound impact on the level of new diagnoses of diabetes in the country. A new study, by the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, has reported that nearly two million Canadians are expected to be diagnosed with diabetes over the next 10 years, primarily due to the increase in the number of people considered overweight .

The research found that about one out of every 10 adult Canadians will develop the disease within the next decade, and recommended that public health authorities should start to prepare for this immediately. It is predicted that those who are overweight, that is, with a body mass index (BMI) of between 25 and 29, or obese, with a BMI greater than 30, will be at least half of all new cases of diabetes.

With type 2 diabetes linked to poor diet and body mass, and the sixth most common cause of death in Canada, nearly 61 per cent (13 million) Canadian adults are thought to be either overweight or obese, which is a rise of seven per cent since 2004.

Douglas Manuel, lead author of the study, said "To be effective, strategies that aim to prevent diabetes in Canada should target groups who bear the greatest population risk. Despite their lower individual risk, people who are overweight will account for many more diabetes cases because more Canadians are overweight (7.2 million) than are very obese (0.9 million)."

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