Diabetes could affect one in five of Beijing's 13 million people in ten years, if preventive measures are not taken in time, experts warn.
A recent sample survey by a local health authority shows 15 to 20 percent of Beijingers are on the verge of the "disease of the rich", as their blood sugar level is between 7.8 and 11.1 millimoles per liter after a meal.
Diabetes is present when the blood sugar level exceeds 11.1 millimoles per liter.
The sampling, carried out by the Beijing Municipal Health Education Institute early in June, included 150,000 residents, Monday's Beijing Morning Post reported.
Latest figures show the Chinese capital has over 1.1 million diabetes sufferers, eight percent of its pollution.
In 1980, local residents with diabetes made up less than two percent of Beijing's population.
About 85 percent of diabetes in Beijing is caused by an "unhealthy lifestyle" rather than being hereditary, the paper quoted Tian Xiangyang, a health official in Beijing as saying.
Tian attributes the higher incidence of the disease to a lack of exercise, a high calorie intake and stress.
(People's Daily June 25, 2002)
