Over the past few decades, the global burden of disease has shifted from communicable
to chronic noncommunicable diseases,
1,2
and two of the main conditions in the latter
group are obesity and type2diabetes (T2D). In a remarkable shift in global mortality
trends, these two diseases and their complications cause more mortality today than famine.
1
The global epidemic of T2D is driven mainly by the obesity epidemic, and recently
it was estimated that the number of people with T2D would increase over the next two
decades to include nearly600 million people.
3
Urgent action is needed to help reduce
the impact of T2D on the lifespan and quality of life of people around the world.