Cases of diabetes double in nearly 30 years

A new report has found that cases of diabetes around the world have doubled in the last 30 years, and that there are now about 350 million people suffering from the condition globally.
The international research, which was published in the Lancet, showed that between 1980 and 2008 global cases of diabetes doubled, and that the number of cases involving adults increased from 153 million to 347 million over the period.
The study, which was based on levels of blood sugar of 2.5 million people that were aged 25 or more, revealed that the prevalence of diabetes has increased or stayed about the same practically everywhere around the world.
The data also showed that the amount of women with diabetes has risen faster than for men . The proportion of women with diabetes was seen to increase by 23 per cent, from 7.5 per cent to 9.2 per cent, while men experienced a rise of 18 per cent, from 8.3 per cent to 9.8 per cent.
It is claimed that the dramatic surge is due to factors such as people living longer, increasing body weight, as well as ethnic genetic factors, foetal nutrition and at birth, lack of a healthy diet and not enough exercise.