If diabetes continues to rise at the current rates, up to 3 million Australians over the age of 25 years will have diabetes by the year 2025. For type 2, this is likely driven by rising obesity, the ageing population, dietary changes, and sedentary lifestyles.
Increased use of carbonated drinks and foods high in sugar, such as baked products made from white flour, processed and packed ready-to-eat foods, and fried foods, has contributed to an unhealthy eating pattern among Americans. These foods can induce chronic inflammation, a factor that can lead to diabetes.
The number of people living with diabetes in Australia increased by almost 2.8-fold between 2000 and 2020, from 460,000 to 1.3 million.
After accounting for differences in the age structure of the population, the age-standardised prevalence rate of diabetes on the linked NDSS and APEG data increased from 2.4% in 2000 to 4.3% in 2020.
Lifestyle factors such as excess weight, physical inactivity and poor diet are major modifiable risk factors for development of the disease. A number of minority populations, including Indigenous Australians, Pacific Islanders, people of Chinese descent and those from the Indian subcontinent, are at higher risk.
Although not everyone with type 2 diabetes is overweight, obesity and an inactive lifestyle are two of the most common causes of type 2 diabetes. These things are responsible for about 90% to 95% of diabetes cases in the United States.
Urbanisation, mechanisation and globalisation lead to reduced physical activity and a diet that contains more fat and salt, which in turn lead to obesity and raised blood pressure. Diabetes therefore is a development issue.
age (people over 40 have a higher risk and the risk increases with age) family history of diabetes. Ethnicity and cultural background (including people from an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, Pacific Island, Indian subcontinent or Chinese cultural background)
Diabetes is the fastest growing chronic disease in Australia, with 1.2 million people known to have type 1, type 2 or gestational diabetes. An estimated 500,000 Australians have undiagnosed type 2 diabetes.
The genetic make-up that enabled Indigenous people to survive when food was scarce may now be a big disadvantage, promoting weight increases, diabetes, and associated conditions such as high blood pressure and heart disease.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are almost four times more likely than non-Indigenous Australians to have diabetes or pre-diabetes. If you're living with diabetes, there's a lot you can do to manage it.
Several programs and initiatives help treat or manage diabetes-related problems. We fund research into diabetes, and maintain national monitoring and surveillance. We have developed the Australian National Diabetes Strategy 2021-2030 to prioritise the national response to diabetes.
There are clear links among lifestyle, inactivity, ageing, obesity, and modernization, that contribute to diabetes. Between 1980, when the first diabetes study was done in Australia, and 2000, the prevalence of obesity almost tripled and the prevalence of diabetes increased from 2.4 to 7.2% [27] (Fig. 3).
The number of adults with diabetes in the world increased from 108 million in 1980, to 422 million in 2014 (figure 7).
There's more to why people get type 2 diabetes than you may know. Although lifestyle is a big part, so are family history, age, and race.
But as a person of Asian descent, you may have less muscle and more fat than other groups and can develop diabetes at a younger age and lower body weight. That extra body fat tends to be in your belly (visceral fat).
Diabetes rates vary greatly around the world. Pakistan has the highest diabetes rate at 30.8%, followed by Kuwait at 24.9%, and Nauru, New Caledonia, and the Northern Mariana Islands, all at 23.4%. On the other hand, countries with the lowest diabetes rates include Eritrea, Somalia, and Guinea-Bissau, all below 1%.
Stress doesn't cause diabetes but it can affect your blood sugar levels and how you look after your condition. Having diabetes to manage on top of life's normal ups and downs can itself be a cause of stress.
Though we know sugar doesn't directly cause type 2 diabetes, you are more likely to get it if you are overweight. You gain weight when you take in more calories than your body needs, and sugary foods and drinks contain a lot of calories.