Media Releases

New research has found that only 5% of Australians aged over 40 have had a type 2 diabetes risk check in the past two years.

Also, more than half of people surveyed were unable name any diabetes related complication despite type 2 diabetes being a leading cause of vision loss, kidney damage, heart attacks, stroke and limb amputation.

Diabetes Australia supports the introduction of a health levy on sugar sweetened drinks to help combat Australia’s obesity epidemic and reduce the number of people developing type 2 diabetes.

New research released today has found that increased sugary drink consumption can increase the risk of type 2 diabetes independent of weight gain or obesity.

Most previous research suggests that increased sugary drink consumption led to weight gain that then led to type 2 diabetes. But an Australian National University led study of 40,000 adults showed the more sugary drinks consumed, the higher the risk of type 2 diabetes independent of weight gain and obesity.

New research shows that sugary drinks sold in Australia have over 20 per cent more glucose compared to those sold in the United States.

The research from the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute compared the sugar content of sugary drinks in Australia, Europe and the U.S. The higher proportion of glucose relate to different sweeteners used in sugary drinks (sugar cane in Australia, corn syrup in the US and sugar beet in Europe).

Latest figures reveal 1.25 million Australians have known diabetes with an additional 108,000 Australians diagnosed with diabetes in just the past 12 months.

The figures have prompted renewed calls from Diabetes Australia for people with diabetes to have regular eye checks.

“Every person with diabetes is at risk of diabetes related retinopathy. Nearly all people with type 1 diabetes, and almost 60 per cent of people with type 2 diabetes, will develop some form of eye disease within 20 years of diagnosis,” said Professor Greg Johnson, CEO of Diabetes Australia .

Associate Professor Stuart Mannering, a global leader in diabetes research, is hoping he can discover a therapy that will ‘turn-off’ the immune response that may cause type 1 diabetes.

Diabetes Australia today announced the prestigious 2017 Millennium Award for Type 1 Diabetes to Associate Professor Mannering for his work at St Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research. The Award provides funding of $150,000.

Diabetes Australia also announced the 2017 Millennium Award for Type 2 diabetes which goes to Dr Seth Masters from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research who will be able to continue his research into how the immune system contributes to obesity, associated with the development of type 2 diabetes.

Diabetes Australia has hailed today’s announcement of the Federal Government’s $54 million Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) subsidy initiative as a life-changer for thousands of Australian children, young people and families living with type 1 diabetes.

New research shows that one in four Australians with type 2 diabetes is not willing to use insulin despite their doctor’s recommendation, with this group reporting more concerns or fears about the insulin therapy.

Diabetes Australia CEO, A/Prof Greg Johnson said “Insulin therapy is important and necessary for hundreds of thousands of Australians with type 2 diabetes – there are currently nearly 1.1 million Australians already diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and over 250,000 of these people are using insulin to manage their diabetes – but more people need to use insulin and we need to address the psychological barriers to this necessary treatment.”

Pathology Awareness Australia and Diabetes Australia are inviting parliamentarians to have diabetes checks at Parliament House to monitor their own health status and learn about the importance of pathology monitoring for the 1.25 million Australians living with diabetes.

As part of the Detecting Diabetes event on 22nd March at Parliament House, politicians and staffers will be offered HbA1c blood tests, which can be used to diagnose and monitor diabetes.

Metabolic memory, a phenomenon where episodes of hyperglycaemia continue to increase a person’s risk of diabetes-related complications long after blood glucose levels have returned to target range, is at the centre of a new study at Monash University.

In particular the new study is looking at ways of reducing the impact of metabolic memory in the hope of developing new treatments for diabetes-related kidney failure.