Let us consider an ongoing experiment in discovering the relationship
between a vegetarian and/or near vegetarian diet and type 2 diabetes,
India. In urban areas the rate is 9 percent and rural 3 percent, with an
over all rate of about 4 percent, and growing in India. In the US, mostly
urban, it is about 5 percent. The rate of pre diabetes is also higher.
Clearly there is something other then simply vegetarian vs. not vegetarian
diet that is at hand. See:
http://www.diabetesindia.com/diabetes/itfdci.htm
from the page:
In keeping with the scenario of most developing countries, India
has long passed the stage of a diabetes epidemic. The problem has
now reached, in scientific language, "pandemic" proportions. To put
it simply, it has crossed the dividing line in which it is a
problem associated with individuals, no matter how large this
number may be, and is now a very large public health problem,
growing astronomically year after year.