Why Is Type-2 Diabetes On The Increase Around The World?

The staggering not to say terrifying statistics of obesity and associated type-2 diabetes are relatively straightforward.

More than eight per cent of the entire world's population has this form of diabetes. Although it is not always directly related to obesity, being overweight is certainly a very major contributory factor in a high proportion of cases.

It is therefore no great surprise to learn that around 40% of the planet's population is obese and the figure is rising rapidly.

What is causing this global increase in these two diseases?

Changing lifestyles

Nobody seriously questions the fact that an ever larger percentage of humanity now passes a relatively sedentary day. That in itself might not be quite so catastrophic if it was not going hand-in-hand with a huge surge in calorie consumption in many countries.

While it's possible to dress this in more complicated and scientific language, the everyday reality is that people are eating more and physically doing less. The inevitable consequences of that are a global epidemic of obesity and also a range of other medical conditions, such as cardio-vascular illness, pulmonary disease and of course type-2 diabetes.

Significant parts of the world are, quite literally, in danger of eating themselves to death.

What can be done about this appalling situation?

Getting the message across

For a long time, the conventional medical approach has consisted of healthcare professionals essentially telling people that they need to be strong willed and follow strict diets. That has been accompanied, perhaps very correctly, by dire health warnings about the consequences of failing to deal with the problem.

However, the above statistics would tend to indicate that this approach simply isn't working.

That's because in the past the association between obesity and over-consumption may have been guilty of two fundamental errors of assumption:

That the problem is essentially linked to some form of behavioural 'greed' that can be addressed by a stern lectures and

That what constitutes particularly dangerous foodstuffs, from the point of view of weight gain, is simple, straightforward and capable of being dealt with easily by telling people to avoid a few specific types of produce.

It is now recognised though that obesity is essentially an illness - just like any other. It needs to be treated and you can't make it go away by giving people stern lectures about where they're going wrong.

The reality is that many people may not to lose weight unless they are on the receiving end of some form of recognisable medical treatment and a professionally designed weight loss regime.

The medical view is changing

It's perhaps fair to say that over the more recent past, things such as medication, surgical intervention and other forms of medical activity have not been at the forefront of the scene.

For example, the various forms of gastric surgery aimed at seriously obese people are known to be efficacious but only around two per cent of eligible patients actually opt for such treatment. That's understandable because comparatively few people welcome the prospect of non-trivial surgery on their stomach.

Then there is the equally problematic area of the history of diet pills. These have been in and out of fashion over the decades and many were shown at one time or another in the past to be at best ineffective and at times harmful.

However, the medical and pharmaceutical industries have finally realized that the global obesity and diabetes epidemics are not only a catastrophe for a significant proportion of mankind but also very possibly a vast commercial opportunity.

At the moment, significant attention is being given to devices such as the VBLOC system which is implanted just under the skin and which acts to generate an electric signal to interrupt the Vagus nerve's signals to the brain to say that the stomach is empty, thereby inhibiting the generation of hunger pangs.

Other devices include a range of small pill-like capsules which are swallowed and inflated once they are in the stomach. These function to make the stomach feel full.

There are also a significant number of new drugs under test such as Beloranib and Mirabegron. They act in a variety of ways to essentially help suppress or control the appetite or change the way the body burns fat.

Conclusion

After a period where the focus of attention was almost exclusively on diets, there is now a very significant attempt to get back to some of the basic scientific treatment ideas that arguably have their philosophical origins back in the 1950s and 1960s.

While the ongoing role of professional dietary regimes will continue to be incredibly important, it's good to see that both dieters and professionals looking to help the obese will soon have some additional strings to their bow.

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