Halt global diabetes epidemic: DM
Halt global diabetes epidemic: "Posted on Thu, Apr. 06, 2006
WORLD HEALTH DAY
Halt global diabetes epidemic
By SONIA SHAH
pmproj@progressive.org
Diabetes is often considered a peculiarly Western disease, but this chronic disease is worth taking note of it tomorrow on World Health Day
Diabetes -- and the fast-food culture that provokes it -- is not just an American problem. It is quickly spreading to the rest of the world, too.
We think of McDonald's as an American restaurant, but of the five new McDonald's that open around the world every day, four are located beyond our borders.
Coca-Cola is the quintessential American drink, but that company has been buying up water licenses in poor countries -- many still bereft of safe drinking water -- where they sell soda for less than the price of a glass of clean water. In Africa, the No. 1 employer is not a mining company or an agricultural firm, but Coca-Cola.
Our health suffers when we rely on fast foods and sugary drinks to sustain ourselves. But in places where malnutrition and poverty are rampant, the ramifications are even more profound.
Fast food everywhere
In Western countries, the transition from hardscrabble malnutrition to today's drive-through, fast-food cornucopia occurred over centuries, with the happy result that our societies were able to control infectious diseases spread by hunger and poverty before facing the maladies of diets rich in calories, including diabetes, obesity and heart disease."
WORLD HEALTH DAY
Halt global diabetes epidemic
By SONIA SHAH
pmproj@progressive.org
Diabetes is often considered a peculiarly Western disease, but this chronic disease is worth taking note of it tomorrow on World Health Day
Diabetes -- and the fast-food culture that provokes it -- is not just an American problem. It is quickly spreading to the rest of the world, too.
We think of McDonald's as an American restaurant, but of the five new McDonald's that open around the world every day, four are located beyond our borders.
Coca-Cola is the quintessential American drink, but that company has been buying up water licenses in poor countries -- many still bereft of safe drinking water -- where they sell soda for less than the price of a glass of clean water. In Africa, the No. 1 employer is not a mining company or an agricultural firm, but Coca-Cola.
Our health suffers when we rely on fast foods and sugary drinks to sustain ourselves. But in places where malnutrition and poverty are rampant, the ramifications are even more profound.
Fast food everywhere
In Western countries, the transition from hardscrabble malnutrition to today's drive-through, fast-food cornucopia occurred over centuries, with the happy result that our societies were able to control infectious diseases spread by hunger and poverty before facing the maladies of diets rich in calories, including diabetes, obesity and heart disease."
posted by Aloyzio Achutti at 2:49 PM
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