2007年VOA标准英语-Diabetes Becomes Growing Threat for Affluent As

By Claudia Blume
Hong Kong
02 April 2007

From Bombay to Beijing, a newly affluent¹ Asian middle class is increasingly adapting Western lifestyles. Many city dwellers² opt³ for high calorie fast food instead of healthier traditional meals and are becoming less and less physically⁴ active. This comes with a price: diabetes⁵, mainly caused by excess weight and lack of exercise, has reached epidemic⁶ levels in Asia. The disease is growing at a faster pace in Asia than anywhere else in the world and is increasingly affecting younger people. Claudia Blume reports from VOA's Asia News Center in Hong Kong.

Delegates from WHO are welcomed by Powhiri, a traditional Maori welcome, in Auckland, 18 Sep 2006

Diabetes is fast becoming an Asian disease. The continent is home to four of the world's 10 largest diabetic populations - India, China, Japan and Pakistan. In India alone, more than 35 million people are estimated to have diabetes, more than in any other country in the world.

In percentage terms, the worst affected⁷ nation is the tiny Pacific island state of Nauru, where more than 40 percent of the population has the disease.

In a healthy body, the pancreas releases insulin, which transforms blood sugar into energy. People with diabetes either do not make enough insulin or their bodies do not use the insulin they make, resulting in the build-up of sugar in the bloodstream.

Most patients have type 2 diabetes, which is mainly caused by obesity⁸ and lack of exercise. Type one diabetes, often called juvenile⁹ diabetes, usually strikes children and young adults, and occurs when the body's immune system destroys insulin-producing cells. Both types can lead to complications such as heart disease, kidney damage and blindness.

Medical textbooks often describe type 2 diabetes as a disease of the middle-aged¹⁰ and the elderly. But Jonathan Shaw, deputy director of the International Diabetes Institute in Australia, says this is changing rapidly. Increasingly, people under 40 are affected, especially in Asia.

"We are now even in European populations, but especially in Asian populations, seeing quite commonly type 2 diabetes in adults in their 20s and 30s and there are now reports of type 2 diabetes in adolescence¹¹ and even children," said Shaw. "So it's occurring at younger and younger ages. At any given sort of level of risk, it always seems that people of Asian origin will more likely develop diabetes than people of European origin."

Shaw says there is evidence that some ethnic¹² groups in Asia, particularly some in South Asia, and Pacific Islanders, have a genetic¹³ predisposition toward diabetes.

But the main culprit is lifestyle. Affluent Asians are rapidly adopting westernized ways of life, such as high-fat fast food diets and sedentary lifestyles. Ronald Ma, a diabetes specialist at the Prince of Wales hospital in Hong Kong, blames unhealthy habits for the fact that about 10 percent of the city's population has diabetes.

"Sometimes if they have to rush they eat a lot of fast food and unhealthy food - high fat, high salt kind of food," he said. "They rarely have time to exercise, they spend a lot of time in front of the computer, sitting around. The general lifestyle is really as unhealthy as it can get in terms of getting these chronic¹⁴ illnesses like diabetes."

Because of its connection to lifestyle, the disease shows up in Asian cities far more than in the countryside. In India, for example, urban residents are four times more likely to develop diabetes than those living in villages.

Jonathan Shaw says the epidemic is exploding faster in Asia than in any other region.

"For example the Western Pacific region currently has 67 million people with diabetes and we project it will increase by 2025 to 99 million, that's a 48 percent increase," said Shaw. "The Indian sub-continent, including Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka as well, we estimate currently has 47 million with diabetes. That will grow to 80 million by the year 2025, almost certainly the growth there is underestimated."

As in the West, most people in Asia with type 2 diabetes are overweight. But experts say many Asian diabetics are less overweight than most Western patients. Their body fat tends to be more often stored around the abdomen¹⁵, however, which increases the risk of getting the disease.

Diabetes is sometimes called a silent killer¹⁶ because many people do not know they have the disease. Often, there are no symptoms for years. The International Diabetes Institute says awareness¹⁷ of the disease is low in Asia, particularly in less developed countries. Information on how to manage diabetes once it is diagnosed often is hard to come by.

Some of those affected have taken matters into their own hands.

Lily Zhou's husband was diagnosed with diabetes two years ago. When the Beijing resident searched for Chinese-language information on the disease on the Internet, she was disappointed by what she found. Zhou decided¹⁸ to create her own Web site, called Tangzhu, which means "master of glucose¹⁹".

"The Web site is for information exchange and self-management of the diabetes," she said.  "We hope it can be a platform for people with diabetes to share their opinions and work together to have a better life."

Diabetes experts say it is crucial to raise the awareness of governments in the region about the enormous scale of the problem. They point out that many diabetics need drugs every day to stay alive, and that diabetes causes many victims to become disabled or to need extensive hospital treatment, all of which can cut into government budgets.

They say Asian health officials often do not recognize that non-communicable diseases such as diabetes are already as big a threat for developing countries as they are for more developed ones.

1 affluent   

adj.富裕的，富有的，丰富的，富饶的

参考例句：

• He hails from an affluent background.他出身于一个富有的家庭。
• His parents were very affluent.他的父母很富裕。

2 dwellers   

n.居民，居住者( dweller的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes. 城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They have transformed themselves into permanent city dwellers. 他们已成为永久的城市居民。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 opt   

vi.选择，决定做某事

参考例句：

• They opt for more holiday instead of more pay.他们选择了延长假期而不是增加工资。
• Will individual schools be given the right to opt out of the local school authority?各个学校可能有权选择退出地方教育局吗？

4 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

5 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。

6 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

7 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

8 obesity   

n.肥胖，肥大

参考例句：

• One effect of overeating may be obesity.吃得过多能导致肥胖。
• Sugar and fat can more easily lead to obesity than some other foods.糖和脂肪比其他食物更容易导致肥胖。

9 juvenile   

n.青少年，少年读物；adj.青少年的，幼稚的

参考例句：

• For a grown man he acted in a very juvenile manner.身为成年人，他的行为举止显得十分幼稚。
• Juvenile crime is increasing at a terrifying rate.青少年犯罪正在以惊人的速度增长。

10 middle-aged   

adj.中年的

参考例句：

• I noticed two middle-aged passengers.我注意到两个中年乘客。
• The new skin balm was welcome by middle-aged women.这种新护肤香膏受到了中年妇女的欢迎。

11 adolescence   

n.青春期，青少年

参考例句：

• Adolescence is the process of going from childhood to maturity.青春期是从少年到成年的过渡期。
• The film is about the trials and tribulations of adolescence.这部电影讲述了青春期的麻烦和苦恼。

12 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

13 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

14 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。

15 abdomen   

n.腹，下腹(胸部到腿部的部分)

参考例句：

• How to know to there is ascarid inside abdomen?怎样知道肚子里面有蛔虫？
• He was anxious about an off-and-on pain the abdomen.他因时隐时现的腹痛而焦虑。

16 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

17 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

18 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

19 glucose   

n.葡萄糖

参考例句：

• I gave him an extra dose of glucose to pep him up.我给他多注射了一剂葡萄糖以增强他的活力。
• The doctor injected glucose into his patient's veins.医生将葡萄糖注入病人的静脉。