Diabetes rates have quadrupled since 1990 heres the 4 reasons why

The number of people living with diabetes worldwide has quadrupled in the past two decades, with 830 million people diagnosed as of 2022, as published this week in The Lancet.That’s more than four times the number of people who had the disease in 1990, according to a Thursday announcement from the World Health Organization (WHO).Among the people with diabetes, more than half are not taking medication to control it, the above source also noted.The prevalence of the disease has grown more quickly in low- and middle-income countries, where there is also the least access to treatment.Diabetes directly led to 1.6 million deaths in 2021, with nearly half of them occurring before 70 years of age, WHO stated.Another 530,000 related deaths were attributed to kidney disease.The American Diabetes Association (ADA) outlines the following four reasons for the increase in diabetes rates.“Eating a diet high in fat and processed sugar can increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes,” the ADA wrote.In particular, the organization recommends drinking water instead of sugar-sweetened beverages.“Being physically active less than three times a week can increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes,” the ADA states.Experts recommend that American adults get 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week, along with at least two days of muscle-strengthening exercises.Although excess weight increases diabetes risk, the ADA notes that many diabetes patients are at a normal weight or only moderately overweight.In 2022, one in every eight people in the world were living with obesity, according to WHO.“Having a parent or sibling with type 2 diabetes can increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes,” the ADA noted.In a Thursday press release, WHO Director-General Dr.Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attributed the “alarming rise” in diabetes to the “increase in obesity (compounded by the impacts of the marketing of unhealthy food), a lack of physica...