Spiraling costs of obesity and diabetes

If the obesity epidemic in Britain is not controlled dramatically, related health costs could reach £45 billion by 2050, according to a recent Foresight report.

Diabetes, strokes and heart disease caused by obesity and overweight will cost the NHS £6.5 billion, with another £38.5 billion to cover other consequences such as lost labour. Compared with the House of Commons health select committee report in 2004, which states that total obesity-related annual costs totalled £7 billion, this is a colossal increase.

The document also uses previous prevalence rate increases of obesity to predict that by 2050, 60% of men and 50% of women could be obese, along with 50% of boys and 20% of girls under the age of 11 years.

The report claims that it is a passive lifestyle with an increase in computer use that is to blame.

Health Secretary Alan Johnson commented: ‘We are facing a potential crisis on the scale of climate change and it is in everybody’s interest to turn things around.’

This follows a report from the Daily Mail in July that stated that diabetes alone is currently costing taxpayers £10 million a week.
The Observer, 14 October 2007

Improved sleep reduces diabetes risk
Growing evidence links sleep deprivation and sleep disorders to the development, or worsening, of diabetes, states a report by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM).

Lawrence Epstein, Medical Director of Sleep HealthCenters said: ‘Restricting sleep to four hours a night for only a few days causes abnormal glucose metabolism, suggesting the mechanism for increased rates of diabetes in sleep-deprived individuals.’

‘Additionally, sleep disorders that disrupt sleep, such as obstructive sleep apnea also increase the likelihood of developing diabetes. Treating the sleep disorders improves glucose metabolism and diabetes control.’
Medical News Today, 9 October 2007

Fasting advice during Ramadan
This year, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, additional diabetes clinics were opened in north-west London to advise people how to fast safely.

Health risks of people with diabetes increase when meals become irregular and less frequent. Therefore, Brent PCT set up six ‘rapid-access’ clinics with sessions on diabetes and fasting.

Healthcare professionals received extra training to familiarise them with treating fasting-related cases.
BBC News, 13 September 2007

No more needles for insulin injections?
An entrepreneur from Oxfordshire has won an award in the 2007 Medical Futures Innovation Awards for developing a device that injects medicines without the need for needles.

It uses a spring mechanism to push a small rod under the skin that comprises a soluble amalgam of the drug and sugar.

The solid formulation is smaller than a grain of rice and can be adjusted for immediate or controlled drug release.

Its creator, Charles Potter, believes the device could be a global success if it passes industry testing since it could be used to administer drugs such as insulin and human growth hormone. It has the potential to be distributed by pharmaceutical companies for GPs to prescribe as an alternative to traditional self-injection kits for diabetes.

Potter commented that the main advantage of the device is that it is easy to use and can be used for self administration at home.

The Medical Futures Innovation Awards are highly regarded by the medical profession and this year attracted over 500 entries. The judging panel were looking for ideas that ‘have the potential to change people’s lives’.
BBC News, 14 June 2007

Vitamin reduces diabetes-related mortality
Following a recent discovery that people with diabetes suffer from a vitamin B1 deficiency, scientists are now testing a vitamin B1 supplement drug that could reduce the incidence of heart attacks and strokes in this group.

Vitamin B1 deficiency has been associated with an increase in CVD, which accounts for about 80% of diabetes-related deaths.
Daily Mail, 7 August 2007

Hopes for simple blood glucose breath tests
It may soon be possible to measure blood glucose levels in people with diabetes using a breath test.

Scientists in the US discovered that people with high blood glucose exhale proportionately more methyl nitrates.

Using an air pollution chemical analysis technique, they realised that methyl nitrate concentrations were ten times more in children with type 1 diabetes in a hyperglycaemic state than a normoglycaemic one.

The team from the University of California hope that this work could replace the need for regular blood glucose tests. Researcher Dr Pietro Galassetti commented: ‘While no clinical breath test exists yet for diabetes, this study shows the possibility of non-invasive methods that can help the millions who have this chronic disease’.
BBC News, 28 September 2007

Pumpkin therapy
With Halloween memories fresh in our minds, there couldn’t be a more appropriate time for the announcement that compounds in pumpkin flesh could replace insulin injections.

Researchers from Shanghai, China, found that pumpkin extract promotes regeneration of damaged  β-cells in rats with diabetes, boosting insulin production to almost healthy levels

Antioxidants and D-chiroinositol are thought to produce the protective effect.
Daily Mail, 8 July 2007

Pet fat club
TV vet Joe Inglis has launched a weight-loss club for overweight pets in Southampton. In association with the RSPCA, he has launched ‘Pets Get Slim’ in an attempt to increase awareness of the increasing problem of obesity and diabetes in British pets and to provide advice and fat-burning tips.

The web site will allow people to share their pets’ weight-loss experiences, post photographs and be voted ‘Pet slimmer of the week’.
BBC News, 20 August 2007

Obese dummy for rescue training
Emergency services have begun training with a 28-stone dummy to help them cope with the increasing number of obese people they are required to save. The dummy takes six people to lift it and is believed to be the heaviest of its kind in the world.

Ruth Lee Fire & Rescue Equipment from Corwen, Denbighshire created the mannequin as a result of high demand from fire and rescue services.
BBC News, 16 October 2007