Diabetes

Authors

Jennifer Irvine, Edith Cowan University
Eliena Kirov, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
Neil Thomson, Edith Cowan University

Document Type

Book Chapter

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Faculty

Faculty of Computing, Health and Science

School

School of Nursing and Public Health

RAS ID

2624

Comments

Irvine, J. L., Kirov, E. , & Thomson, N. J. (2003). Diabetes. In Thomson, Neil (Eds.). The health of indigenous Australians (pp. 93-126). Location: Oxford University Press. Available here.

Abstract

Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes worldwide. About 85-90% of all diabetes cases are type 2, making it a significant public-health issue in the majority of developed countries (WHO 1999). There is an expanding body of evidence suggesting that type 2 diabetes is a consequence of increasing levels of obesity, decreased levels of activity, and increased food availability-a result of increased modernisation. Non-Western societies (such as hunter-gatherer societies) converting to Western lifestyles are potentially at the greatest risk of developing diabetes. Australian Indigenous people are the classic example of this.