By Ike Uchechukwu

CALABAR—No fewer than 10 million Nigerians are at risk of suffering from diabetes ‘type 2’ by 2026, according to an Endocrinologist, Prof. Feyi Adegoke.

Adegoke, who is the President of Endocrine and Metabolism Society of Nigeria, EMSON, disclosed this in Calabar, Cross River State, during the 38th Scientific Conference and Annual General Meeting of the society.

According to her, no fewer than five million Nigerians are currently suffering from the disease, adding that one out of every 10 adult in Nigeria has ‘type 2’ diabetes.

Speaking further, she said that over 15 million people in Africa were currently suffering from the disease hence the need for a lot of awareness in order to checkmate the disease.

She said: “Currently in Nigeria, no fewer than five million people are suffering from diabetes type 2. This number will increase to about 10 million in the next 10 years. Currently in Africa, there are about 15 million people suffering from diabetes and by the year 2025, that number will double to about 30 million.

“In Nigeria, residents in the urban centres are more at risk of diabetes than those in the rural areas. The metropolitan cities have the highest rate of diabetes and that is because people are tending more towards Western lifestyle of consuming more alcoholic drinks, smoking, consumption of fast foods and others. These are some of the things that drive the epidemic we are seeing.’’

She decried the tendency of people doing less of physical activities now, saying that it was the reason the epidemic of diabetes and obesity were on the increase.

She advised people to always do physical exercises, reduce the intake of canned drinks, stop smoking and eat balanced diets rather than fast foods.