Professor of diabetes research Hanno Pijl of Leiden University has no definite explanation for the cause of the decline. This may be caused by what he calls the further ‘westernization’ of society. We eat more and more (processed) food and exercise less and less. Obesity is a major risk factor for type 2 diabetes.
Obesity Epidemic
Another explanation is that doctors are more alert, says Pijl. “As practitioners, we are increasingly aware that the obesity epidemic makes people more likely to develop diabetes. As a result, diabetes is diagnosed earlier.”
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It is the first time that the Diabetes Fund has conducted research into the age of diabetes patients in which type 1 and type 2 are broken down. Arrow says he is curious about the next research. “In two or three years’ time we will have a better idea of how the average age of patients develops. If it then turns out that the disease is mainly increasing among young people, it could be an extra incentive to take another critical look at our way of life. “
Often obesity
Type 2 diabetes, also called old-age sugar, is common, but not exclusively, in seniors. An estimated 15,000 people in their thirties, 3600 people in their twenties and several hundred teenagers have type 2 diabetes, often due to obesity or heredity.
The fact that such young people suffer from diabetes is something of the last twenty years, says Professor Arrow. Before that, he saw almost no one under 40 with type 2 diabetes.
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Two types
An estimated 1.1 million Dutch people have diabetes. By far most people have diabetes type 2. There are more than a million.
In type 2 diabetes, the body no longer responds properly to insulin, the hormone that regulates blood sugar. The insulin is invisible, as it were, and cannot do its job. Half of the adults in the Netherlands have an increased risk of type 2 diabetes as a result of obesity. Incidentally, there are also people who just have bad luck, type 2 diabetes can happen to anyone.
Another 110,000 Dutch people have to contend with diabetes type 1. This is an autoimmune disease in which the body shuts down the cells that produce insulin. To keep the blood sugar level, patients have to inject insulin several times a day. Type 1 diabetes is often diagnosed under the age of 35, but people can get it at any age.
The Diabetes Fund expects that the total number of patients will rise to 1.4 million in 2040 due to aging and population growth.
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