Eye surgeon and Australian of the year Dr James Muecke uses a powerful analogy when talking about type 2 diabetes.
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"We don't invent elaborate mechanisms to deal with the overflow of water from a leaking tap, we search for the source of the leak and fix it," he said. "In type 2 diabetes, this means finding the root cause - excessive dietary sugar - and fixing that."
It can be easy to bury your head in the sand over issues that don't directly affect you. But when it comes to our health, ignoring symptoms - or in this case, the root cause - can often have major consequences. The burden of type 2 diabetes has been recognised for some time. But what about what's driving it?
As pointed out by Dr Muecke, type 2 diabetes is a dietary disease. Therefore, it needs a dietary cure. While a simple approach, unfortunately, the reality is far more complicated. Sugar is something that has become engraved in our culture. Quite frankly, it's an addiction.
Last year research from Melbourne's Austin Health found that more than 12,000 Tasmanians could be living with type 2 diabetes and not even know it. Diabetes is a leading cause of irreversible blindness, kidney failure and dialysis. It also increases a person's risk of a heart attack and stroke by up to four times.
To use Dr Muecke's analogy once more - the tap is still leaking. And if we don't fix it soon, we will be faced with an irreversible flood. Hard-hitting health campaigns, reworking nutritional guidelines including the "flawed" five-star health rating and a levy on products containing high levels of added sugar are just some of his suggested solutions.
From a public health perspective, it will take accountability from business, industry and government if we really want to see progress made against what's become one of the biggest burdens on our health system - both financially and emotionally.
In a nutshell - we can no longer let commercial interest stop us from acting to prevent type 2 diabetes in the community. Because the burden has already become too much to bear.