Loading ...
Unfortunately, the incidence of diabetes continues to rise in America.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released new data estimating 26 million Americans now suffer from the disease. The sharp rise from the 2008 estimate of 23.6 million calls attention to the diabetes epidemic. This means one in 12 Americans now has diabetes, a disease where their bodies face difficulties producing or using the hormone insulin, which causes a buildup of sugar in their blood.
The rise in diabetes can be attributed to a few factors. With an increasing obesity epidemic, more Americans are developing type 2 diabetes. Medical advances in diabetes management are helping more people to live longer with the disease. The use of A1C levels — a measure of blood glucose control — to diagnose diabetes could account for some of the rising numbers.
According to the CDC, many more people — 79 million, or
35 percent of U.S adults — are considered to have “prediabetes.” This is a significant increase over the CDC estimate of 57 million adults with prediabetes in 2008. Prediabetes is a condition in which blood sugar levels are higher than normal but not high enough to be diagnosed. It increases a person’s risk of developing type 2 diabetes or having heart disease or a stroke. The good news is that making lifestyle changes such as losing weight or exercising can help prevent or delay diabetes.
[…]
