Type 2 diabetes and obesity are major health problems that have reached epidemic proportions and are growing at alarming rates around the world.

Type 2 diabetes

According to the International Diabetes Federation and the World Health Organization:

• More than 285 million people worldwide are living with diabetes, and within 20 years, this total is expected to increase to 438 million people.
• More than 250 million people worldwide have type 2 diabetes.
• By 2025, this total is expected to increase to over 380 million people.
• Each year more than 3.8 million people die from diabetes-related causes – one death every 10 seconds – claiming as many lives annually as HIV/AIDS.
• Diabetes imposes a large economic burden on the individual, national healthcare system and economy. Healthcare expenditures on diabetes are expected to account for 11.6% of the total healthcare expenditure in the world in 2010.

Obesity

According to the International Association for the Study of Obesity and the World Health Organization:

• Obesity poses one of the greatest global public health challenges for the 21st century, as the prevalence of adult obesity has risen three-fold in many countries since the 1980s.
• There are more than 500 million obese adults worldwide and almost 1.5 billion who are overweight.
• Around 700 million adults are projected to be obese by 2015.

Type 2 diabetes and obesity

According to the International Diabetes Federation and the World Health Organization:

• Type 2 diabetes is responsible for approximately 90 percent of diabetes cases.
• Overweight and obese individuals are at a much higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
• Estimated global healthcare expenditures to treat and prevent diabetes and its complications are expected to total at least 560 billion (expressed in International Dollars) in 2030.
• The IDF estimated that the measures to treat and prevent diabetes and its complications worldwide cost at least US$376 billion in 2010.