Diabetes cases to double to 1.3 billion by 2050.

According to new data released on Friday, the global diabetes population will more than double to 1.3 billion by 2050, owing to structural racism and significant disparities between countries.

According to the most thorough worldwide data analysis projecting out to 2050, every country would see a rise in the number of chronic disease patients.

Diabetes, one of the top ten causes of mortality and disability, is projected to affect 529 million people worldwide.

According to a study published in the Lancet magazine, that figure — 95 percent of which are cases of type 2 diabetes — will exceed 1.3 billion in less than three decades.

High BMI – an indicator of potential obesity — was associated to more than half of diabetes-related deaths and disability.

Other influences were people’s diets, physical activity, smoking, and alcohol consumption.

One aspect, according to Liane Ong, lead research scientist at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) and first author of one of the studies, was how diets have altered.

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“Over the course of 30 years, different countries have really migrated from traditional food habits — maybe eating more fruits and vegetables, eating healthier greens — to more highly processed foods,” she explained to AFP.

According to the study, three-quarters of persons with diabetes would reside in low- and middle-income nations by 2045.

Diabetes rates were about 1.5 times higher among minorities such as black, Hispanic, Asian, or Native Americans in prosperous countries such as the United States, according to a separate Lancet study.

The study’s co-author, Medical College of Wisconsin’s Leonard Egede, blamed a “cascade of widening diabetes inequity.”

“Racist policies, such as residential segregation, affect where people live, their access to sufficient and healthy food, and their access to health care services,” he added in a statement.

“The challenge is that we don’t really see one type of intervention that will fix everything,” Ong added.

Instead, she believes that combating diabetes would necessitate long-term planning, investment, and attention from countries all around the world.

The Lancet stated in an editorial that “the world has failed to understand the social nature of diabetes and has underestimated the true scale and threat the disease poses.”

“Diabetes will be a defining disease of this century,” the report continued.