Death By Sugar

Diabetes is a plague in Indigenous communities.

Would you be shocked if you stepped out into your community and saw amputees everywhere on crutches due to advanced and untreated diabetes? You would never expect to see such a thing in this country - Africa, maybe? Well, this is the reality for many Indigenous communities in wealthy nations such as America and Australia.

It is particularly a problem in cultures that have traditionally had a protein-based diet for thousands of years, and then suddenly switch to a diet dominated by sugar and refined carbohydrates.

Read about how diabetes is destroying an entire generation of Aborigines, in my article Syndrome X .

For more info on diabetes, read the blog by Tom Donohue entitled Diabetes in the medical issues section of Suite101.

For a portrait of Indigenous community health that will make your skin crawl, check out the article Aboriginal Health Shame.