Background information on diabetes

Diabetes is a condition where there is too much sugar (glucose) in the blood. It results when people either don't produce enough insulin or have high levels of insulin in their blood, which isn't working properly. Insulin is the hormone that regulates blood sugar.

There are three types of diabetes:

Type 1 diabetes is most common in children and young adults but it can occur at any age. It occurs when the pancreas no longer produces insulin and treatment involves lifelong insulin injections.

Type 2 diabetes is the most common form, affecting both adults and an increasing number of children and young people, particularly in populations which are sedentary and overweight. In this case the pancreas does not produce enough insulin.

Gestational Diabetes occurs during pregnancy, a time when the pancreas needs to produce extra insulin to regulate blood sugar levels. In most cases, gestational diabetes goes away after the baby is born. However, women who have had gestational diabetes are at higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life.

• Women who enter adulthood already obese and then put on a further 20 kilograms are 80 to 90 times more likely to develop diabetes!

• Approximately 7 per cent of the Australian population has diabetes, and the prevalence is increasing. Research has shown that of this 7 per cent, half do not know they have diabetes.
• The number of adults affected by diabetes has trebled in the last 20 years.
• Almost one in four people aged 25 years and older have either diabetes or are experiencing impaired glucose metabolism, meaning that their blood sugar is above the normal range and they are pre-diabetic.
• Poorly controlled diabetes can result in blindness, kidney failure, amputations, and reduce your lifespan by 15 years.

• 4.3 per cent of New Zealanders claim to have been diagnosed with diabetes. N. B. This figure does not include people who are unaware that they have the condition ¹⁵ .
• For every person diagnosed with diabetes, it is estimated that another has diabetes but does not know it yet. ¹⁶
• Estimates for 2002 revealed there would be 1700 deaths in New Zealand that can be attributed to diabetes - well over three times the annual road toll ¹⁶ !
• The prevalence of impaired glucose metabolism for 2003 was estimated at 9.4 per cent of the New Zealand population by the International Diabetes Federation ¹⁷ .