Sunday, July 15, 2007 Health experts see widespread cases of diabetes
HEALTH experts have predicted that number of diabetes cases in Southeast Asia and the Pacific would increase in three years as Asians continue to practice Western foods and lifestyle.
Dr. Tommy Willing, president and chairman of the Philippine Diabetes Association (PDA), said the region will bear the brunt of the epidemic compared to Europe by 2010.
"It's the hidden epidemic of the 21st century. Diabetes is a time bomb," Willing said in a forum held at the Filipinas Heritage Library in Makati City.
Globally, the disease is increasing dramatically with more than 245 million persons living with diabetes and by 2025, it is expected to increase to over 380 million as seven million individuals develop the disease every year.
Willing said half of all diabetes patients do not know that they have it while 50 percent of those with Type 2 diabetes have already developed complications at the time of diagnosis.
Calling it a silent killer and a bad disease, Willings said diabetes like human immunodeficiency virus-Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/Aids) is responsible for 3.8 million deaths and over a million amputations every year.
"Every 10 seconds, one person dies of complications from diabetes. At the same time, two persons will develop the disease," he added.
PDA vice president Editha Arceo-Dalisay noted that Asians' copying of Western food and its industrialized environment that limits mobility make them predisposed to developing diabetes.
She said in the Philippines, four percent of about 85 million Filipinos are living with the disease with Metro Manila having an eight percent prevalence rate. Most of these patients have Type 2 diabetes.
"Type 2 diabetes is responsible for 90-95 percent of diabetes cases and is increasing at alarming rates globally as a result of increased urbanization, high rates of obesity, sedentary lifestyles and stress," said Dalisay.
However, she said while this kind of illness is generally inherited, it can be prevented if one is eating the right kind of food and is staying away from vices such as smoking. (MSN/Sunnex)
