EPIDEMIC OF DIABETES

IT'S MOSTLY OBESITY, BUT I WONDER IF IT'S SOMETHING ELSE AS WELL. THE ECONOMIC COST IS AND WILL CONTINUE TO BE ASTOUNDING. Study: Global diabetes rate has risen by 45% over past two decades. The New York Times (6/8, A3, Tavernise, Subscription Publication) reports that a study published online today in The Lancet finds that “the global diabetes rate has risen by nearly half over the past two decades...as obesity and the health problems it spawns have taken hold across the developing world.” Specifically, the study “reported a 45 percent rise in the prevalence of diabetes worldwide from 1990 to 2013,” with “nearly all the rise...in type 2 [diabetes], which is usually related to obesity.” According to the Times, the study, which received its funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, “is the largest analysis of global disability data to date, drawing on more than 35,000 data sources in 188 countries.”