Exporting Diabetes to Asia

Diabetes is rising startlingly fast in Asia, and while Asians aren't as fat as Americans, a big reason for the increase is the spread of the Western diet—with all its calories, sugar, and refined grains—into developing countries.

A study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association predicts that cases of diabetes worldwide will grow from 240 million in 2007 to 380 million in 2025. About 60 percent of those cases will be in Asia.

Unless steps are taken, the spread of diabetes in Asia could "erase economic gains made in recent decades," warned Frank Hu, a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health and one of the study's authors.

Asians, on average, are still far less fat than Westerners, but they are gaining weight around their waists, which is often a precursor for diabetes. 

Another alarming aspect of the findings is that young people in Asia seem much more prone to diabetes than young people in the West. A large proportion of victims are between 20 and 59. In the West, the disease tends to strike people between 60 and 79.

The difference appears to be a combination in Asia of low birth weights and overeating in later life.