Whole representative groups or randomly selected samples of Indians (of Asian origin) (1,520), Malays (1,252) and African Bantu (1,029) living in the Cape Town area were interviewed by social workers and screened by urine and blood sugar estimations after either a heavy meal or 50 gm. of glucose. Subjects who "screened positive" were subjected to full glucose tolerance tests, on which the final diagnosis of "discovered diabetes" was based. The screening methods used were of approximately comparable sensitivity, and the two sexes were almost equally represented in each age group and race.The difference between postprandial and post-glucose blood sugar was not consistent, and rose with age. The mean screening blood sugar levels of adults rose with age, but in young adults it was no higher than in children. There was no difference between the sexes, except apparently in the Malays. Africans had the lowest and Malays the highest mean blood sugar levels at all ages. (Known diabetics were excluded from these observations.)The known diabetes rate among Indians was 4 per cent over age fifteen, or 10.2 per cent when age-corrected. This is one of the highest prevalence rates known. Known diabetes (0.9 per cent) among the Africans was very similar to that usually reported among white populations. The total (known and discovered) diabetes prevalence among Indians was 10.4 per cent over age fifteen, rising to 60

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