The cry of alarm from the president of the Italian Diabetes Foundation

“I still get several reports from all over Italy of sports clubs and associations that do not want to enroll boys or people with type 1 diabetes, but if these individuals are not convinced with words, we need to go to the courts because there is a law that speaks clearly”.

This was said by Nicola Zeni, president of the Italian Diabetes Foundation (FID), speaking at an event on sports, diabetes, and inclusion organized in Milan by Grenke, a company specializing in operational instrumental rental of goods and services for businesses and freelancers.

During the event it emerged how in Italian regions where sports practice is higher the incidence of diabetes is lower, which is, on the other hand, higher in the presence of overweight and obesity but also low incomes.

Representatives of ANIAD (Italian National Association of Diabetic Athletes) and FID (Italian Diabetic Federation), diabetologists, and athletes discussed how and with what difficulties athletes with type 1 diabetes have to prepare for competitions, training, take care of nutrition and physical recovery. About 300 thousand people in Italy have type 1 diabetes, which is an autoimmune disease, while nearly 4.5 million have type 2 diabetes and almost 1 million do not even know they have it.