Israelis dying more from diabetes, new report says

Israel has the third highest mortality rate from diabetes among countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), according to a Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) study released on Wednesday. At 5.6 percent, Israel’s diabetes mortality rate was topped only by Turkey and Mexico.

The CBS study outlined the leading causes of death in Israel based on statistics from 2013, comparing them with OECD countries and to Israeli figures from 1970. In addition to the data on diabetes, the report also included other noticeable statistics.

The most significant cause of death in Israel was found to be cancer, which killed 25.8% of Israelis in 2013, a significant rise from the 1970 figure of 16.5%. However, Israel’s cancer death rate was still lower than most OECD nations.

The one exception to this was breast cancer among women, which was relatively very high compared to the OECD nations. Studies have found that Ashkenazi Jews have a relatively higher risk than the general world population of having a BRCA mutation, which raises their risk of developing breast and/or ovarian cancer.

Big changes were seen from 1970 figures, with rates of death from heart disease, strokes and birth-related complications all going down, while rates from cancer and infectious and respiratory diseases went up.

The CBS report also found differences in distribution of cause of death between Jews and Arabs in Israel. Israeli Arabs were found to have a lower cancer death rate than Jews (at 20.5%), but also had 2.7 times more of a chance of getting killed in car accidents, and were 3.3 times more likely to die of murder. Jews were 2.3 times more likely than Arabs to die of suicide.

Earlier this year, Israeli researchers discovered a Middle Eastern plant that has the potential to treat diabetes. The active ingredient of the Chiliadenus iphionoides shrub was found to have an active ingredient that can lower blood sugar.