Doctors often repeat that in addition to paying attention to outbreaks of infectious diseases, one must attend to the great current challenge facing humanity:
chronic non
-communicable diseases .
One of the types of diabetes that has been gaining the most ground is type 2 diabetes, confirms a paper from the prestigious
British Medical Journal
.
The worrying thing: in the last 30 years, the figures worsened by 56% in the adolescent and young population, due to the
increase in overweight and obesity
.
The work, “
Global burden of type 2 diabetes in adolescents and young adults, 1990-2019: systematic analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019
”, focuses, as the title indicates, on the
prevalence of diabetes over 30 years
, in more than 200 countries.
The result found by the authors (all from different universities in China) is overwhelming, but it makes sense just by looking at the huge proportion of
people on the street who are overweight and obese
, conditions directly linked to type 2 diabetes.
Malnutrition is a variable that can trigger conditions such as type 2 diabetes.
Specifically, in 1990, out of 100,000 people between the ages of 15 and 39, 117 had this type of diabetes (the least severe, but also the most frequent).
In 2019, that number reached 183 per 100,000, an increase of more than 56%.
Another piece of information from this research published in December is worrying, but not entirely surprising: comparing countries with different demographic indexes, the incidence of type 2 diabetes grows in countries with low-middle and low income.
In other words, countries like Argentina.
diabetes everywhere
The Ministry of Health is no stranger to these data.
Official online information estimates that "1 in 10 Argentines aged 18 or over have diabetes, and given that they remain without symptoms for several years,
approximately 4 out of 10 are unaware of their condition
."
Regarding type 2 diabetes ("the most common form"), the text clarifies that "although it usually begins after the age of 40, the disease is
increasingly seen in younger people
."
And it is associated (they add) "to overweight and obesity, inadequate diet, lack of physical activity and family history".
To gauge the seriousness of the issue, Valeria Hirschler, pediatrician expert in nutrition and childhood diabetes, coordinator of the Epidemiology Committee of the Argentine Diabetes Society, provided one more piece of information: "In 2019 we did work with primary school children from different regions of the country .
The result?
40% were overweight or obese.
Diabetes in adults and children
“Type 2 diabetes is a disease that previously only appeared in people over 50 or 60 years of age, always associated with obesity and a sedentary lifestyle.
But as weight gain grew among the youngest,
the prevalence of diabetes also
”, continued the doctor.
Diego Wappner is a clinical doctor, master's degree in diabetes and cardiovascular disease, graduate in epidemiology of chronic non-communicable diseases and director of the university diploma course in cardiometabolic and renal risk in diabetes, from the UCES.
The issue is of particular concern to him.
First, because many cases of type 2 diabetes are
preventable
.
Second, because the consequences of the disease are
greater than those on record
.
He said that “in 2019 a study called
Capture
was carried out in which 13 countries participated;
among them, Argentina.
They measured the prevalence of cardiovascular disease in people with type 2 diabetes older than 18 years.
The world average was 35%, but
in Argentina it was 41%
”.
Is that an expected impact for the adolescent and young population?
Food, a weapon against diabetes
“The main causes of overweight and obesity in children and young adults are the
consumption of ultra-processed foods and sugary drinks
, which are easily accessible and highly promoted.
In addition, the lack of physical activity, a combo that pushes the increase in diabetes pictures ”, Wappner listed.
In 2018, the National Survey of Risk Factors made this scenario clear: “There it was seen that 60% of the population over 18 years of age was overweight.
Regarding physical activity,
only 35% of the population did at least 150 minutes per week
.
A 2019 survey revealed that, in Argentina, 40% of primary school boys were overweight or obese.
Photo Shutterstock.
"And, regarding the consumption of vegetables, only 6% of the population stated that they consume one serving per day, that is, two or three vegetables or fruits.
This gives a clear x-ray of what is happening in Argentina
," he emphasized.
The link between
obesity and diabetes
is very clear, since "along with hypertension, they make up a combo of
cardiometabolic disorder
," he summarized.
The figures overwhelm the doctor's head: “According to the latest atlas of the International Diabetes Federation, in 2021 there were 537 million people with diabetes in the world.
By 2045, a 45% increase is expected, that is, 784 million patients”.
What is desperate is the distribution of these figures on the world map: “When high-income and low-income countries are discriminated, for the Latin American region
the increase will be 50%
.
In Europe, 13%.
In Africa, 134%”.
lifestyle challenges
When he read the British Journal paper, Hirschler was not surprised: “A sedentary lifestyle and a family history increase the predisposition to diabetes.
In other words, there is
a genetic part and an environmental part
".
To lower diabetes, "the question is to focus on
lifestyle
, beyond the fact that more and more drugs are emerging to treat obesity."
By lifestyle, the doctor means "avoiding junk food, which in Argentina is not McDonald's but
pizzas and empanadas
."
In addition, "it is essential
to increase physical activity
, which in schools should be a daily subject, such as mathematics, not to mention that children should be able to go to safe and free places to do physical activity, so that they do not stay in front of the computer or TV all day.
However, the most important pillar, he said, is
education
: "Sometimes the problem is not access to food but the lack of education."
For example -he summarized-, "the indication to take skimmed dairy products, which is not only for overweight people, as many think. That is ignorance. As it is ignorance to force a boy to finish the plate.
When he says ' enough', is 'enough'
”.
ACE
look too
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