{
  "id": 11044176,
  "title": "Mauritius is the first country to show it is reversing the type 2 diabetes epidemic using gold-standard testing",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/30/mauritius-is-the-first-country-to-show-it-is-reversing-the-type-2",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-09-30T22:10:23.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Medical Xpress",
    "slug": "medical-xpress",
    "url": "https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-mauritius-country-reversing-diabetes-epidemic.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "New research presented at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes conference in Milan reveals that Mauritius has become the first country to reverse its Type 2 diabetes epidemic. The island nation, with a population of 1.2 million, has monitored diabetes prevalence through seven surveys conducted since 1987, using the gold-standard two-hour oral glucose tolerance test (2 hour OGTT). While globally, the prevalence of Type 2 diabetes has been steadily increasing due to changes in living conditions and lifestyles, leading to a shift from infectious to chronic non-communicable diseases, Mauritius has seen a decline in both Type 2 diabetes and prediabetes prevalence. Between 1987 and 2009, the prevalence of Type 2 diabetes increased by 61% in men and 56% in women, but between 2009 and 2021, it decreased by 11% in men and 16% in women. The researchers suggest that this reversal highlights the potential impact of diabetes prevention and management initiatives. They conclude that Mauritius is the first country to show a sustained decrease in Type 2 diabetes and prediabetes prevalence, based on long-term data using WHO-recommended diagnostic criteria.",
  "summary": "New research presented at the Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Milan, Italy, Sept. 28–Oct. 2 and published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology shows that the small island nation of Mauritius is the first country to demonstrate that it is reversing the type 2 diabetes epidemic using the gold-standard two-hour oral glucose tolerance test (2 hour…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}