Researchers and clinicians from across the UK have been part of a pan-European team that has developed the first Europe wide strategy for the prevention of type 2 diabetes. The project received substantial funding of 1.2 million euros from the European Union (EU).After all is said and done, weight loss is the fix.
Entitled IMAGE (Development and Implementation of a European Guideline and Training Standards for Diabetes Prevention), the final recommendations produced by those involved in the project was launched at the 6th World Congress on Prevention of Diabetes and its Complications, Dresden, Germany on 9th April 2010. The IMAGE project involved experts from 20 countries, including diabetes specialists, GPs, nurses, patient organisations, public health and policy experts, health researchers, epidemiologists and behavioural scientists.
Prevention programmes aimed at preventing people who have high risk of type 2 diabetes from developing the illness have been proven to work, yet prevention strategies in Europe are fragmented. Programmes in Finland and Germany have led the way, but with the number of people with type 2 diabetes rising across Europe, the need for evidence based guidelines for putting prevention into practice is seen as a public health priority.
It is predicted that one in 10 Europeans aged 20-79 will have developed diabetes by 2030. Its reach is growing - once a disease of old age, diabetes is now affecting adolescents and children and the highest increase is in the 30-40 year old age group. Diabetes now accounts for up to 18 per cent of total healthcare expenditure in Europe and costs an estimated £9 billion per year in the UK.
However, recent evidence has proven that people who are on a 'metabolic trajectory' towards developing diabetes (which is largely driven by excess reserves of fat in the body) can be prevented from developing the disease. People who are at high risk of type 2 diabetes who can achieve relatively moderate changes in their lifestyle (5% weight loss, 150 minutes of moderate activity per week, changes in diet (fat and fibre intake) have a much lower chance of developing diabetes. In a number of recent, high quality trials, the rate of progression (after three to seven years) for people receiving interventions to support changes in diet and physical activity was halved (49%) compared with people receiving usual healthcare. Furthermore, the more lifestyle changes people made, the better they did - amongst people who made four of five lifestyle changes, the rate of progression to type 2 diabetes was 0 per cent...
"Lifestyle interventions have been proven to work and the potential healthcare cost savings are immense. If high quality programmes, based on the IMAGE guideline are implemented to support lifestyle change in people at risk, the incidence of type 2 diabetes can potentially be halved.
"However, to deliver national strategies for diabetes prevention and reap these benefits would require substantial investments - well-trained prevention personnel working alongside GPs and nurses on a large scale. These systems could also be applied to managing cardiovascular risk. The question now is what will politicians and health services do with this information? In short, we know that diabetes prevention is possible and that the cost savings for health care and for society would be substantial - but do we have the courage to do it?"
But the nutcases in Europe "do not have the courage to do" what is right.
Stop rescuing the fat from their diseases of choice.
In short order, that will work to cut the incidence of Type 2 diabetes.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment