Diabetes rates nearly doubled in the past three decades, largely due to increases in obesity and sugary diets, according to a report released Wednesday by the World Health Organization.
The percentage of adults living with diabetes worldwide grew from 4.7% in 1980 to 8.5% in 2014. Overall, there was a nearly four-fold increase in worldwide cases: An estimated 422 million adults were living with diabetes in 2014, up from 108 million in 1980.
The WHO describes diabetes as a serious, chronic disease that occurs either when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin, a hormone that regulates blood sugar, or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces.
[For more of this story, written by Liz Szabo, go to http://www.usatoday.com/story/...-worldwide/82695278/]
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