330
Communist China Just Cured Diabetes and America's Insulin Industry is Not Happy About it (open.substack.com)
submitted 9 months ago by to c/latestagecapitalism@lemmy.world
121 comments fedilink hide all child comments
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 40 points 9 months ago (11 children)

Rate of diabetes in China “explosive”

China has the world's largest diabetes population, with over 118 million adults (approx. 11–12% prevalence) living with the disease as of late 2024–2025, driven by rapid urbanization, obesity, and an aging population. The epidemic has shifted dramatically from less than 1% prevalence in 1980 to a major public health challenge, with type 2 diabetes accounting for over 90% of cases

This is a consistent pattern in Chinese domestic politics. What a western nation would pick out as a profit center, the Chinese state addresses as a social cost. So the state plows a small fortune into cost-effective medical solutions, rather than squeezing the existing health care system out for therapeutic remedies that never resolve the root problem.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 11 child comments
    •
  • [–] 9 points 9 months ago (6 children)

    This is a consistent pattern in Chinese domestic politics

    What are other examples?

    It should be noted that this treatment sounds likely to be very expensive, and also if someone doesn't change their lifestyle, the newly implanted functional cells are likely to become dysfunctional again over time, requiring another expensive cycle of treatment

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 6 child comments
    •
  • [–] 12 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    What are other examples?

    Environmental policy was a big one. China took a hard pivot in the '00s, cutting emissions, advancing alternative energy, reforesting deserts, rapidly advancing HSR, building enormous wild life refugees.

    Their insourcing of processors was another. Going from Taiwan's biggest customer to it's biggest competitor in a decade and change.

    Then there was the housing boom - remember "Chinese Ghost Towns"? All over the news in the early '10s. Now China has more homeowners than any other county on Earth with more than 90% of households owning at least one property.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago* (1 child)

    i've never understood how anyone could think the "ghost towns" wouldn't obviously be filled shortly. One of the most significant facts about China is that they have a stupendously massive population, and consider Boston a quaint medium-sized town.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [+] 3 points 9 months ago (3 children)
    [removed by mod]
  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
    •
  • [–] 7 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    In the actual study, the subject had Type 2 diabetes, and the authors note that treating Type 1 will be much more difficult due to the immunology involved

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 3 points 9 months ago

    Agreed, the article says all of this but it doesn't make a lot of sense. This is generally the mindset everyone has been using to treat type 1. Type 1 is about production, type 2 is about resistance. This treatment doesn't address resistance, it just makes more insulin. More insulin is not more better, and has consequences.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
    • load more comments (-1 replies)
  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago (3 children)

    This treatment is for type 1 (still 12 million cases).

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
    •