RSS Search

News  Feeds  Tags  Search Shortcuts

FeedsFarm.com > Diabetes could 'wipe out' Maori by end of century.

Diabetes could 'wipe out' Maori by end of century.

14th Nov 2006, 03:24 GMT

Diabetes could wipe out Maori and Polynesian Islanders by the end of the century, according to an international expert in the disease. Professor Martin Silink, head of the Brussels-based International Diabetes Foundation, told a gathering of experts in Melbourne that indigenous people had a greater genetic risk of contracting type 2 diabetes, which was often undiagnosed. Western lifestyles and diets had replaced traditional habits, exacerbating the problem. "They also have the genes that make the diabetes more damaging, so they are more prone to develop the serious complications of diabetes," Prof Silink said. Extinction was a "very real reality" and New Zealand's Maori and Pacific Island populations were just as much at risk as Australia's Aborigines and native Indians in the United States and Canada, he said.Source:NZPA

View full story at newszealand.blogspot.com

Diabetes could 'wipe out' Maori by end of century. related news:

Latest news from Daily New Zealand News: