The global diabetes crisis is escalating, but artificial intelligence (AI) offers a beacon of hope.Health industry leaders, speaking at Fortune‘s Most Powerful Women International conference in Riyadh, emphasized AI’s pivotal role in preventing and treating diabetes-related diseases, particularly in regions with high lifestyle-related diabetic populations, such as the Middle East.

the Staggering Numbers

noosheen Hashemi, founder and CEO of January AI, highlighted the alarming statistics:

“The numbers are staggering.We are going to have 1.3 billion people [around the globe] with diabetes by 2050 and about three times that number will have pre-diabetes. […] over 5 billion people, or half of the world population, will be insulin resistant.”

Noosheen Hashemi, January AI

January AI leverages AI to provide personalized nutrition and blood sugar level insights, empowering individuals to make informed dietary choices.

AI-Powered Solutions: A Glimmer of Hope

Despite the daunting figures, Hashemi remains optimistic, stating:

“The good news is that we have all the tools we need today to help make the world metabolically healthy.”

Noosheen Hashemi, January AI

AI-enabled technology allows users to analyze the composition of their food-protein, fiber, carbs, and more-simply by taking a picture. This technology can then predict the likely blood sugar response,enabling proactive management of glucose levels.

Predictive Power: Preventing Future Diseases

Olfat Berro, Roche Pharmaceuticals’ Middle East area head, emphasized the future potential of AI in disease prevention:

“We see the repercussions of this epidemic on other health factors, like, such as, on eyesight and the challenges that the patients might face in the future. And one very vital aspect…is how can we use technology to realy understand what are the changes, such as, in the eyes that can we can predict what the diseases could be, and at the same time, we can intervene early on.”

Olfat Berro, Roche Pharmaceuticals

By integrating genomic profiling data, AI can diagnose and even prevent a wider range of diseases in people with diabetes, addressing complications such as vision problems.

January AI: predicting Your Health Future

January AI’s blood sugar monitoring app, which doesn’t require a monitor, was developed using data from a study of 1,022 diverse participants. This data allowed the company to build a robust prediction engine. Hashemi explained:

“Predict the future of your health.”

Noosheen Hashemi, january AI

By combining genomic data, lifestyle data, and health metrics, AI can provide personalized insights and predict potential health outcomes.

Dipping the Curve: A hope for the Future

Leah Cotterill, Cigna Healthcare’s CEO of Middle East and Africa (outside Saudi Arabia), believes that AI health monitoring can help prevent a future where half the world’s population is diabetic or pre-diabetic:

“One would hope that, with education and with fabulous AI tools and pharmaceuticals as well, you would be able to sort of dip that curve, rather then seeing that rise to such an extent.”

Leah Cotterill,Cigna Healthcare

Education,AI tools,and pharmaceuticals,working in concert,offer the potential to mitigate the diabetes epidemic.