Malnutrition-Related Diabetes Officially Named ‘Type 5’

Amity Island · Apr 16, 2025

What is Type 5 diabetes?

It is a malnutrition-related diabetes, typically affecting lean and malnourished teenagers and young adults in low- and middle-income countries. Today, there are an estimated 20-25 million people worldwide, mainly in Asia and Africa, who are afflicted by this disease.

What is Type 5 diabetes connected to malnutrition?

Medical experts have officially recognised a lesser-known diabetes, known as Type 5 diabetes. The condition is common among young, malnourished adults, with doctors estimating that there are an estimated 20-25 million people worldwide, mainly in Asia and Africa, afflicted by this form of the disease

www.firstpost.com

Northerner · Friday at 10:50 AM

Malnutrition-related diabetes, distinct from both type 1 and type 2, has now been officially recognized and named “type 5 diabetes.”

The vote to endorse the category took place on April 8, during the International Diabetes Federation’s (IDF’s) World Diabetes Congress, held in Bangkok, Thailand. In January 2025, a panel met in India to draft a consensus statement about the condition, due to be published soon, Meredith Hawkins, MD, professor of medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York, told Medscape Medical News.

“Malnutrition-related diabetes has historically been vastly underdiagnosed and poorly understood…The IDF’s recognition of it as ‘type 5 diabetes’ is an important step toward raising awareness of a health problem that is so devastating to so many people,” Hawkins said.

(According to the American Diabetes Association, “type 3” diabetes indicates specific types due to other causes such as single genes, exocrine pancreatic diseases such as cystic fibrosis, or drug/chemical-induced diabetes. “Type 4” is gestational diabetes.)