Escalating rates of diabetes among indigenous cultures could make the Maori and Polynesian races ‘extinct’ before the end of the century, an Australian expert warns. Professor Paul Zimmet, director of Monash University’s International Diabetes Institute, said the rising number of diabetes victims among the world’s indigenous communities would decimate entire cultures. ‘Without urgent action there certainly is a real risk of a major wipeout of indigenous communities, if not total extinction, within this century,’ he said. ‘Life expectancy is already low and dropping, and diabetes is hitting them very hard, so the infections, amputations and kidney disease will just wreak more havoc.’ Professor Zimmet labelled rising world diabetes rates – with the disease affecting one in four ‘indigenous’ adults – a tragedy threatening to consume world economies and bankrupt health systems. Extinction was a ‘very real reality’ and Australia’s Aborigines were just as much at risk as Maori and Pacific Island populations, and native people in the United States and Canada, he said. Professor Zimmet will air his claims at a Diabetes in Indigenous People Forum, which opened in Melbourne yesterday. The claims have split experts in New Zealand. Professor Chris Cunningham, […]