Nutritious Food And More Exercise Won't Be Enough To Stop Type 2 Diabetes Epidemic

President of Diabetes Australia Gary Deed says that while eating more nutritious food and exercising regularly will aid the prevention of type 2 diabetes, it won't be enough to slow the growth of Australia's diabetes epidemic.

In 2005, diabetes cost the Australian community $10.3 billion dollars. $1.1 billion of that cost was generated from treating the ailments of obese Australians.

Doctor Deed says the challenge of turning diabetes around requires major social change.

"It's just not as simple as saying "improve your exercise and eating habits" and we will solve the problem" Deed said. "Some Australians, due to their social and economic circumstances, are unable to get access to healthy foods and are prevented from being active. What we need to do is bring all interested parties, both government and non government, together and see how we might address some of these underlying issues".

In Australia, the number of new cases of diabetes each year would fill the Melbourne Cricket Ground - 275 new cases every day. By 2031, it's estimated that 3.3 million Australians will have diabetes.

Diabetes is the biggest contributor to heart disease, kidney failure, strokes and blindness in Australians.

Doctor Gary Deed was a member of the "Diabetes and Obesity - can we stem the tide" session at the National Public Health and reform Summit in Sydney recently.