Nearly 1.1 million people have type 2 diabetes in the Netherlands, according to the Diabetes Foundation (Diabetes Fonds), and the resulting employment problems cost the economy more than €1 billion annually in lost production. The calculation has been made by the SEO consultancy Economisch Onderzoek, and according to its researchers, good prevention would allow these costs to be limited because the disease forces one to work less and for a lower salary, or completely prevents one from staying in the labor market. The billion-dollar figure only takes into account the decrease in productivity reflected in the gross salary. It does not evaluate additional costs such as health expenses and loss of quality of life. In diabetes, the body has difficulty keeping blood sugar levels balanced. Type 1 is the most common variant, it can appear in childhood and does not produce insulin. With type 2, either too little is produced or the body cannot use it effectively, and blood sugar levels are too high. It usually appears at an older age and is usually related to lifestyle, although heredity can also play a role. Given that the second can cause fatigue and loss of concentration, and sometimes damages the heart, kidneys and eyes, the same consultant indicates that work performance suffers. Specifically, their study warns that, when medication is required, “the probability of having a paid job decreases by 2.4 percentage points.” It points out that the gross monthly salary of people in this phase of the disease “is reduced by an average of 3.6%,” and indicates that the probability of finding a job “decreases by 4.8 percentage points.” All of this, in large part, due to fewer hours being worked. The work of SEO Economisch Onderzoek has been commissioned by the Amsterdam Research Center for Health Economics, a health research platform. This report in turn explains that preventing the development of type 2 diabetes in the age group between 18 and 67, and preventing them from needing medication, can bring more benefits than costs to the labor market. In fact, it proposes a tax increase on sugary soft drinks, early reimbursement of the price of weight loss medications for people with obesity, overweight or prediabetes to reduce later complications, and activating a screening program to detect the disease earlier. Wouter Vermeulen, the lead researcher, writes with his colleagues that they saw that people with diabetes “often end up receiving social benefits” because of their difficulties. In 78% of cases it is a benefit for incapacity for work or illness.
Diet and lifestyle
Diet and lifestyle play an important role in the prevention of type 2 diabetes, and in 2024, a study commissioned by the Ministry of Health and submitted to Congress revealed that the majority of offers in Dutch supermarkets encourage the choice of unhealthy foods. In that case, the researchers were from the Wageningen University and Research Center, the Free University of Amsterdam and the University of Utrecht, and they found that sweets, cookies, alcohol, soft drinks, meat and poultry were the most offered products: 36% of the total assortment. On the other hand, fruits, vegetables, legumes, eggs and fish represented 13% of the total supply. To arrive at these percentages, they analyzed supermarket brochures and also the products that appear on shelves and displays. They even looked at promotions on Instagram and advertisements at bus stops. Also in 2024, the Central Statistics Office indicated that half of the population over 18 years of age is overweight, and they are six times more likely to suffer from type 2 diabetes. According to the Diabetes Foundation, 1 in 8 children is obese, and hence they have urged the Government to take measures to be able to choose healthier options in the supermarket. You can check out other cards in this section here.
