Thank you very much.
The Canadian Diabetes Association appreciates the opportunity to appear before the standing committee in your study on healthy living. We wish we had better news about the fight against diabetes; however, that's not the case.
In 2009, the Canadian Diabetes Association released An Economic Tsunami: The Cost of Diabetes in Canada, a report that outlined the estimated current and projected prevalence and cost of diabetes in Canada based on the Canadian diabetes cost model.
The findings of this model are indeed shocking. Today, more than three million Canadians are living with diabetes. Diabetes prevalence in Canada has almost doubled over the past decade and will continue to rise over the next decade.
No region of Canada is immune to diabetes. Atlantic Canada bears the greatest burden. Newfoundland and Labrador's prevalence is over 9% today and will rise to over 14% by 2020. In Alberta and British Columbia, where diabetes rates are below the national average, prevalence will grow by 67% and 62% respectively; the highest growth rate in Canada.
In Atlantic Canada, over 30% of the population will have diabetes or pre-diabetes by 2020. Pre-diabetes exists when blood glucose levels are higher than normal, but not yet high enough to be diagnosed as type 2 diabetes. Over 50% of the people living with pre-diabetes will develop diabetes.
The impact of diabetes on our health care system and our economy are equally staggering. The cost of diabetes in Canada currently stands at $12.2 billion annually and is estimated to grow to almost $17 billion annually by the end of this decade. By 2020, the economic impact of diabetes in Canada will have increased by over 130% from the year 2000. So it is clear: Canada has a diabetes epidemic, which is getting worse.
Our diabetes cost model shows that 80% of diabetes-related costs are due to treating the serious complications associated with diabetes, not for treatment and management of diabetes itself. These complications include kidney failure, heart attack, and stroke. Therefore, to address the economic impact of diabetes, we need to focus on keeping those living with diabetes healthy to avoid or at least delay these complications.
Our brief to the committee contains three recommendations, calling upon the federal government to enhance support for a pan-Canadian healthy weights strategy; a comprehensive secondary prevention strategy for people with diabetes and pre-diabetes; and thirdly, potential regulatory changes to promote healthy eating and physical activity.
For today's presentation we will focus our remarks on our first recommendation of a pan-Canadian healthy weights strategy.
According to Statistics Canada, 61% of Canadians are either overweight or obese. Among children and youth, more than 17% are overweight and 9% are obese.
The link between excess weight and type 2 diabetes is clear, given that 80% to 90% of the people with type 2 diabetes are either overweight or obese. While obese persons have the highest individual diabetes risk, it is those who are overweight who will drive the largest increase in diabetes prevalence rates over the next decade.
So while a focus on obesity is certainly important, it is clearly not sufficient. If we are to combat this diabetes epidemic, we also need to focus on Canadians who are overweight but not obese.
More than 50% of cases of type 2 diabetes could be prevented or delayed with healthier eating and increased activity. Even a moderate weight loss of 5% to 10% can significantly reduce the risk of developing diabetes.
For those living with diabetes, maintaining a health weight is the best defence for preventing serious, life-threatening complications. For those living with pre-diabetes, achieving a healthy weight not only reduces their likelihood of developing diabetes but may also result in their blood glucose levels returning to normal.
Given the costs associated with diabetes complications, investing in a pan-Canadian healthy weights strategy makes sense in terms of better health outcomes for those Canadians with diabetes as well as making good economic sense. Therefore, we urge the federal government, in partnership with provincial and territorial governments, to move forward in their framework to promote healthy weights. But we must also ensure that this framework includes those Canadians who are overweight in addition to those Canadians who are obese.
A pan-Canadian healthy weights strategy would increase the percentage of Canadians at a healthy weight through five main goals: identifying and understanding the underlying societal causes of unhealthy weights; setting targets to increase the number of Canadians achieving healthy weights, specifically within high-risk populations; improving access to programs and services for high-risk populations; initiating a public education campaign across all sectors of society; and incorporating a multisectoral approach involving governments, non-governmental organizations, the private sector, and all Canadians as individuals.