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Comment by linkydinkandyou | Hacker News Reader

We spend hundreds billions of dollars each year taking care of people who eat too much, at the expense of people who try to be responsible.

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What makes you think people are not trying to be responsible? In other words, what makes you think it's an issue of intent and not ability?

How hard is it to not do something? Just don't eat so much, and 80% of Type II diabetes would go away.

How hard is it to not be depressed and anxious? Just don't mope so much, and 80% of depression and anxiety disorders would go away.

Have you ever tried just not breathing so much? It's pretty difficult.

Millions of people suffer from diabetes type 2 who didn't eat too much. Over-eating and weight gain are major factor, but so are genetics and other conditions.

By your logic we should stop funding HIV/AIDS research as well, spending hundreds of billions of dollars each year taking care of people who didn't use protection, at the expense of people who try to be responsible.

No, my logic would not extend to people with HIV/AIDS.

Why? Because the majority of people with Type II Diabetes (not all) could cure themselves just by eating less! Instead they put a burden on our health care system so they can maintain their habit.

A person living with HIV/AIDS doesn't have the ability to cure himself with a no-cost option. There's a huge difference there.

> Because the majority of people with Type II Diabetes (not all) could cure themselves just by eating less!

Do you have a reliable source for "majority"?

http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Diabetes-type2/Pages/Causes.asp...

Only one of these is "eats too much".

> age – being over the age of 40 (over 25 for south Asian people)

> genetics – having a close relative with the condition (parent, brother or sister)

> weight – being overweight or obese

> ethnicity – being of south Asian, Chinese, African-Caribbean or black African origin (even if you were born in the UK)

From the VERY SOURCE your QUOTED:

"Exercising regularly and reducing your body weight by about 5% could reduce your risk of getting diabetes by more than 50%."

They list four risk factors, but the BIGGEST risk factor is EATING TOO MUCH.

You don't understand what "reduce your risk by 50%" means, which is fine because most people make the same mistake.

But having a horrible judgemental attitude while making this simple mistake is sub-optimal.

The original claim also included the word "cure", and according to that site there is no "cure." Diet/exercise only reduce the risk of developing it in the first place.

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