Soon, we'll be known as the 'sweetest' nation too if we don't do anything about it.

Prediabetes rate rising

The country has seen a surge in prediabetes rate as of late, Malay Mail reported.

Consultant endocrinologist Dr Foo Siew Hui, citing findings from the 2019 National Health and Morbidity Survey, told the news portal that the prediabetes rate (prediabetes refers to those who are borderline diabetes) has been steadily increasing for the past few years.

"The number of prediabetes cases has jumped from 8.8 per cent in 2015 to 23.6 per cent in 2019.

"That’s almost a quarter of the population who have yet to become diabetic but will become so if nothing drastic can be done for them," she was quoted as saying.

The surge in prediabetes cases is worrying, considering that currently, around 3.9 million of the Malaysian population is struggling with the non-communicable disease with a prevalence rate of 18.3 per cent.

More young Malaysians are living with it

To make things worse, Dr Foo also added that a significant portion of young Malaysians are living with the disease.

As of 2019, 38.4 per cent of total diabetics in Malaysia was below 50, putting them at risk of developing diabetes-related health complications.

She added that illnesses that comes with diabetes such as heart, kidney, eye and nerve diseases were also higher among young diabetics as they tend to live longer with the disease.

Dr Foo said the main contributing factors to developing diabetes was obesity, as a whopping 60 per cent of those living with diabetes either have abnormal bodyweight or obese.

She also said that diabetes-related health complications have been increasing over the past few years, with cardiovascular disease remaining as the leading cause of death.