Diabetes In China

The US is still fatter but China has overtaken us in the proportion of diabetics. I blame prosperity and sugar (link), but others see more nuance:

Scientists blame China's diabetes epidemic — Zimmet called it a potential "apocalypse" — in large part on the country's torrid economy, which has been growing at a rate of roughly 10 percent for the past three decades. As more people become wealthier, they adopt a diet and lifestyle that makes them more susceptible to earlier onset of Type 2 diabetes, the most common form of diabetes and a disease that's closely linked to obesity.

"As the country's economy expanded quickly over the last three decades, the standards of living and lifestyles of ordinary Chinese have changed substantially," Ning told China's Xinhua news agency.

"With increased high-calorie, high-fat, high-sugar and high-sodium diets, decreased physical activity and more sedentary lifestyles, all factors that could lead to weight gain, diabetes and other chronic diseases are now reaching epidemic proportions in China," he said.

The good news is that the Chinese will apply themselvs to solving this; a country with so little regard for human rights that it can impose a one-child policy ought to be able to engineer a ban sugary soft drinks. Although having said that, sugar provides instant gratification whereas raising babies can be a more uneven project... hmm, would I trade my kids for a case of Coke? Let me come back to that.

The bad news is that American pharmaceitical developers will see the same respect displayed for their intellectual property as US software developers and film-makers. Too bad - it would be nice of the Chinese consumer shouldered some of the financial burden of developing new drugs, but I don't think they will.

Comments

[GMax]

One of Patrick H's commenter gets to the point a little quicker than he himself does:

Stephanie Cutter is to people what lampreys are to fish.

[GMax]

ought to be able to engineer a ban sugary soft drinks.

Well Mike Bloomberg will be looking for a new gig in a few days, maybe he can apply for chief engineer. I hear he has some thoughts on the subject and just needs the power uninterrupted by meddling jurists to put it in place...

[NK(tryin')]

TomM-- I think you're missing the larger picture here. A fat lazy populace suffering from Type 2 Diabetes is exactly what the ProgFascists like the ChiComs and Obummer want their subjects to be.

[Bruce]

Bacteria.

"Gut bacteria from lean mice can invade the guts of obesity-prone cage-mates and help their new hosts to fight weight gain."

http://www.nature.com/news/bacteria-from-lean-cage-mates-help-mice-stay-slim-1.13693

[matt]

Chinese do not consume nearly the fatty, sugary diet that we do. Rice, a little meat, tea, and veggies, with a fair amount of fried food.

I'm blaming it on the Colonel.

[Frau Wiedersprechen]

On our shores, orange chicken ranks up there with the Colonel, matt.

[Manuel Transmission]

Countless meals with middle class Chinese engineers and über bosses reveals all the raw ingredients for Type 2: booze, dumplings, watermelon, sweet fruit drinks, moar dumplings. Most can out consume me by a factor of 3 or 4. At least 1 out of 6 are diabetic and lay off the booze as penance.

[Threadkiller]

The problem with Chinese insulin is that an hour later you feel like you need another shot.

[Beasts of England]

TK@1:33 - Ha!

[matt]

I forgot the booze, Manuel. I always tell them I have a condition that does not allow me to drink more than a symbolic drink. That and I also tend to migrate towards the less processed stuff and veggies.

And when the Chinese get hammered, they get hammered. I'm guessing 0.2 blood alcohol in a lot of cases. They say it is a way to improve communications with the boss, especially when the boss can't remember what happened the night before.

[Manuel Transmission]

I've seen Mongolians knock back a 1/2 L. of the 110 proof paint thinner for lunch and not show any effect. Some guys have that gene that flushes their cheeks. Probably distant cousins to our Indians.

[Clarice]

The Japanese, too have a penchant these days for booze, creamy foods and sweet stuff. I wonder if they are having a similar problem/

[666_cathyf_says_typepad_sucks_333]

Indians have a well-known tendency to combine whole-body thinness with the exception of abdominal fat. And those skinny except for the big bellies folks have about twice the diabetes rate as the "pear shaped" population.

Sometime ask a biochemist whether obesity causes diabetes or diabetes causes obesity...

What is quite obvious is that when you take populations of humans who are borderline starving over a time period where evolution takes place, you select for humans whose bodies are not adapted to plentiful food.

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