Is Diabetes Preventable?
Diabetes Is Preventable:
Preventing diabetes is important for everyone. We face a veritable high blood sugar epidemic in our country and around the world, driven largely by increases in weight and decreases in activity. In the next 50 years the number of people in the United States who have diabetes will double. Both IGT and type 2 diabetes are more common amongAfrican-Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, American Indians, and Pacific Islanders, and for the first time we are seeing these conditions in young people, as well.
For many people the disease is completely preventable through proper nutrition and fitness. There will always be some individuals who, for genetic reasons, will be at greater risk for the disease than others, but again, for many this disease is entirely preventable.
Adult onset diabetes preventable, but difficult:
Exercise and weight control are key to preventing one of the most serious and common diseases today: diabetes. More evidence to that effect just came in from the National Institutes of Health, citing a study that found those at greatest risk of developing diabetes cut their risk of the disease by nearly 60% by dropping 15 pounds and walking more. When we’re overweight, our body has trouble efficiently processing sugar. If we gain too much weight, any of us can develop diabetes and the damaging conditions it leads to. Poor circulation, heart attacks, blindness and kidney failure are among the trials patients with diabetes face.
One third of type two diabetes preventable:
A report released today by the Ministry of Health projects that the number of people with diagnosed Type 2 Diabetes may increase from about 120,000 in 2001 to 180,000 in 2011. “The Diabetes Surveillance population-based estimates and projections for New Zealand 2001 - 2011 shows that of the projected 60,000 new diagnosed Type 2 Diabetes cases in 2011, about a third will be the result of an increasing number of people who are overweight and obese and the rest will largely be due to our ageing population and other factors,” Pete Hodgson said.
Diabetes: is it preventable?
It’s World Diabetes Day is on the 14th of November, a day to raise awareness of a disease that is now thought to affect 1.5 million Australians. Alarmingly, half of the people with diabetes don’t know they have it, and it’s becoming increasingly prevalent among younger people and children. So, is it possible to prevent diabetes?New guidelines released by the American Diabetes Association look at recommendations for preventing type 2 diabetes, which is Australia’s fastest growing chronic disease and is the most common type of diabetes, affecting 85-90% of people with diabetes. And the good news is it is preventable.
People with pre-diabetes have blood glucose levels that are higher than normal but not high enough for a diagnosis of diabetes. This condition raises the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. Pre-diabetes is also called impaired fasting glucose (IFG) or impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), depending on the test used to diagnose it. Some people have both IFG and IGT. IGT is a condition in which the blood glucose level is high (140 to 199 mg/dL) after a 2-hour oral glucose tolerance test, but is not high enough to be classified as diabetes. Pre-diabetes is becoming more common in the United States, according to new estimates provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
