The UK's Diabetes Deluge

The term 'diabetes' means 'to walk through'. This is a reference to the copious urine, produced (for different reasons) by sufferers. Diabetes has two distinct hormonal causes. Diabetes insipidus is a disorder resulting from deficiencies of the anti-diuretic hormone, vasopressin. Vasopressin normally facilitates water resorption by the kidneys. The more common condition, is diabetes mellitus or so-called 'sugar diabetes'. In this case, the patient's urine contains glucose. Sufferers of 'sugar diabetes' are compelled to drink water, by the high glucose concentrations in their blood. In the UK, cases of diabetes mellitus have just topped 5 million for the first time (https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/apr/13/uk-in-rapidly-escalating-diabetes-crisis-as-cases-top-5m-report-says). Diabetes mellitus a serious condition. If not controlled, it can result in amputations (when limbs become gangrenous), blindness, heart attacks, kidney failure and/or strokes. The 'diabetes epidemic' is exerting considerable pressures on the UK's National Health Service. There are two basic types of 'sugar diabetes'. Type 1 is an inherited condition, where the body fails to produce/doesn't adequately respond to insulin. Type 2, however, is largely a result of lifestyle choices. The risk of developing this condition, is strongly linked to a person becoming overweight or obese. Type 2 diabetes accounts for 90% of current UK cases. Circa 66% of UK adults are overweight or obese. This means that another 2.4 million folk, in this country, are at high risk of also developing type 2 diabetes. People, under 40, are now more likely to develop this condition. A case can be made, for using appetite-suppressing injections, to help the folk who are most at risk. It would be much better (and less wasteful), however, to encourage people to adopt healthier lifestyles. This means improving their diets and increasing the amount of exercise they take. The 'food industry' should not escape. Manufacturers should not be allowed to bombard the population (especially its children) with cheap, sugary drinks and high calorie foods. It's not sufficient to simply maintain that all people have the 'choice' to eat or not to eat the items produced 'for them'. Profits should not be the driving factor.