DUBAI (Arab News) – Controlling the sweet tooth is not the only lifestyle choice that will determine whether or not an individual will develop diabetes in the course of their lifetime. The chronic disease, which has seen an alarming rise in cases across the world over the past decade, has been linked to sedentary lifestyles, unhealthy diets and obesity.
Inadequate knowledge about the prevention and management of the condition in many countries led the International Diabetes Federation to make “access to diabetes education” the theme of World Diabetes Day for the third consecutive year.
Every year, campaigns are launched around the world on Nov. 14 to help raise awareness about the disease, which, as of 2021, affected 537 million adults between the ages of 20 and 79 worldwide.
In recent years, cases of Type 2 diabetes have skyrocketed in specific regions, including the Middle East and North Africa — particularly in the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council area. Countries such as Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain now rank among the top 10 nations with the highest prevalence of Type 2 diabetes.
In the UAE, as many as one in five people have diabetes, with Type 2 being the most common form, according to Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi. This number is expected to double by 2040.
In response to this seemingly inexorable increase in cases, health experts are examining everything from lifestyle trends to technological advancements and healthcare systems to determine what can be done to slow the spread and identify how much is down to genetics.
According to Dr. Sara Suliman, consultant endocrinologist and diabetologist at the Imperial College London Diabetes Center in Abu Dhabi, variables such as urbanization, changing climate, mobility and food availability influence rates of diabetes in different areas.
“The GCC, being one of the richer areas in the world, has seen far more use of cars, far more easy access to food, including high-calorie food, and is one of the leading areas in the world as far as an increase in diabetes cases is concerned,” she told Arab News.
The situation is just as worrying in other countries of the Middle East and North Africa. Data from 2021 shows that 73 million adults (aged 20-79) across the MENA region are living with diabetes — a figure that is estimated to grow to 95 million by 2030 and 136 million by 2045.
“Until very recently, we were hanging a lot of things on genes. We do know if one parent has diabetes (Type 2), then there is a 40 percent chance of an individual getting diabetes, and that if two parents have diabetes, then there is an 80 percent chance of the individual becoming affected,” said Suliman.
In fact, not only is Type 2 diabetes preventable, it can also be reversed through a complete change in lifestyle. Unfortunately, this is not the case for Type 1.