A FEW years ago, Time magazine ran a report on the global diabetes epidemic. One of the leading authorities on diabetes, Prof Paul Zimmet, said that as AIDS posed a major health problem in the latter part of 20th century, so is diabetes in the early part of the 21st century.
This has turned out to be quite prophetic. The incidence of diabetes in Malaysia has increased from 6.3% in 1986 to 8.3% in 1996. This is a staggering increase within a short space of time. In fact, 50% of the people suffering from diabetes are going to come from Asia by 2010, a short six years from now. Why is there a global epidemic and what can we do about it?
