Philippine Diabetes Statistics

CEBU, Philippines – The incidence of diabetes is growing around the world. It is in the top ten leading causes of deaths. Filipinos are not an exemption to this incidence as more and more Filipinos are affected by the disease. In fact, a 2008 survey alarmingly concluded that one out of every five Filipinos have diabetes. That means that around 20 percent of the population have diabetes and this has significantly increased from only 4 percent in 1998.

Another cause for alarm is that Filipinos diagnosed with diabetes are getting younger. Children as young as five years old have been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. With this trend, the Philippines is expected to belong in the top 10 countries with the most people with diabetes in the next few years.

While the diabetic statistics in the Philippines is relatively low compared to Scandinavian countries, it nevertheless featured a drastic increase that is alarming. Over seven million Filipinos will have diabetes by 2030. Some experts attribute the increase of diabetic incidence in the Philippines to the lifestyle and culture of Filipinos.

For one, Filipinos love to eat. Rice is the nation's staple food. Filipinos are fond of holding celebrations at fiestas, baptisms, weddings, and different holidays in which food indulgence is a crucial part.

Filipinos has the best fatty, risky exotic foods such as batsoy, liver and other organ meat (papaitan), sisig, street foods (isaw, adidas), lechon (split-roasted meat), the best condiments such as bagoong (red and brown), patis (fish sauce), bistek coated with sebo oil, menudo and other menu. Filipinos also have the best and sweetest native delicacies and cakes - puto, palitaw, biko, and bibingka, among many others.

Finally, the Philippines is also the most free country where people are allowed to indulge in vices such as alcohols and cigarettes. It has the cheapest cigarettes and liquors in the world which are practically available in every nook and corner of a town and even at the most rural areas of the country. Under these premises, it is no wonder that the number of diabetics in the Philippines will soar in the next years to come.

(allaboutdiabetes.net)