As part of Diabetes Awareness Month, the Knesset Health Committee discussed issues related to the disease and to weight gain in Israel. Itamar Raz, president of the Israel Diabetes Association, noted that in 1990 there were 280,000 diabetics in Israel, while today there are 600,000, and another 600,000 people have prediabetes, meaning their blood sugar level is higher than normal, but not high enough for a diagnosis of diabetes. “This is a severe epidemic which is getting worse. Diabetes is the main cause of hospitalization, blindness, leg amputations and dialysis,” he said.
Health Ministry Deputy Director-General Arnon Afek said the ministry was formulating a national plan to “attack diabetes from all sides, beginning from ways to prevent the disease to the treatment of those who are severely ill.”
Ronit Endevelt, director of the Health Ministry’s Nutrition Department, told the committee that the weight gain epidemic is twice as prevalent in the Arab sectors as it is among Jewish Israelis, and added, “We are leading a national plan to reduce the amount of salt in the food we eat. We have already succeeded in reducing the amount of sodium by 20 percent, without anyone knowing that we did it. The amount of sodium in cottage cheese has been reduced by 30 percent.”
Captain Dr. Lior Yehoshua of the IDF Medical Corps said 22 percent of those who enlist to the army are overweight. Another three percent were slightly obese, and 70 percent of soldiers gain weight during their military service.
Professor Dan Nemet, deputy director of the Meir Medical Center, noted that a six-year-old who suffers from obesity has a 70 percent chance of suffering from the condition for the rest of his or her life.
“I meet children in first grade who weigh 175 pounds, and children in sixth grade who weigh 330 pounds,” Nemet said. “The difference between a regular child and an overweight child is about 200 calories per day and a little bit of daily physical exercise. Meaning, they have to eat a little bit less and a bit healthier. That is all. It is amazing to see how the modern world cannot overcome 200 calories per day.”
Head of the Dieticians department for Maccabi HMO, Billy Cohen, said that of the 350,000 users of the HMO who are at risk of obtaining the disease, seven percent become diabetics each year. “We’ve set ourselves a goal of stopping that progression,” he said.
Committee Chairperson Elie Elalouf (Kulanu) said he would gather the various bodies represented and organize a nationwide fight against diabetes and obesity, in addition to creating and passing laws that will help the situation. Among them he said will be a standardized subsidy on whole wheat bread rather than on white bread.
Researchers have measured the glycemic index of white bread vs. whole wheat bread, and compared them. It turns out there is no significant difference between the two. However, research that checked the glycemic index of 100% whole grain bread versus white bread, found that the whole grain bread had a significantly lower glycemic index – the lowest in the category, and 30%-40% less than white bread.