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(HealthNewsDigest.com) – November is National Diabetes Month. If you have not been tested for diabetes, maybe it is time you were. Why? Because every day in the US 5,200 new cases are diagnosed. It is estimated that over 29 million Americans have diabetes, more than 9% of the population. Of that number more than 8 million are unaware they have the disease. You could be one of those. Another 86 million people have prediabetes, a cluster of symptoms that puts them at higher risk for diabetes. If these symptoms are managed with medication and lifestyle changes, a person can prevent the progression to diabetes.
Who is most at risk? The risk of developing diabetes increases with each of the following that may apply to you.
- Being 45 or older
- Being overweight
- Having a parent or close relative with diabetes
- Being African-American, American Indian, Asian-American, Pacific Islander or Hispanic/Latino American
- Having had diabetes during pregnancy
- Giving birth to a baby weighing more than 9 pounds
- Having high blood pressure
- Having high cholesterol
- Having high triglycerides
- Exercising very little or not at all
- Having polycystic ovary syndrome (a disorder affecting the female reproductive system)
- Having dark, thickened skin around the neck or armpits (acanthosis nigricans)
- Having a history of blood vessel disease
- Having higher than normal blood glucose levels at previous screenings
Just because you carry the risk for diabetes doesn’t mean you will get it. People who lead the healthiest lives are 80% less likely to develop diabetes. Those who stay slim, exercise regularly, don’t smoke, and eat generally healthy diets decrease their odds of developing diabetes no matter what their genetic profiles say. People with diabetes can control the condition, and in some cases even reverse it, with lifestyle changes.
What is prediabetes? It is a condition, not a disease. With prediabetes your blood sugar levels are higher than normal but not high enough for a diagnosis of diabetes. Over 85 million Americans, age 20 and older have prediabetes. That is why testing is so important. Only 7% of those with prediabetes have been tested. Increased testing and treatment could prevent millions of cases of type 2 diabetes and save billions of health care dollars. It is estimated that it costs $245 billion yearly to treat those with diabetes in the US and the costs are rising as more people are diagnosed.
If untreated, people with prediabetes are likely to develop diabetes within 10 years. Without treatment, women tend to progress from prediabetes to diabetes faster than men. But, this is not inevitable. With treatment and lifestyle changes, prediabetes may never develop into type 2 diabetes. If you have prediabetes, losing 5% to 7% of your current weight and walking 2.5 hours a week can reduce your risk of developing diabetes by 58%. For people over age 60, the risk goes down over 70%.
Why one person develops diabetes and another does not is the result of a complicated interaction between genes and environment. Medical experts classify diabetes into 4 main groups – type 1, type 2, pregnancy diabetes, and “from other causes.” This last group accounts for a very small percentage of cases in which the development of diabetes is usually secondary to another condition like Down syndrome.
Type 2 is the most common form accounting for a whopping 90% to 95% of all cases. With type 2 diabetes your body is unable to effectively use the hormone insulin, which is produced by the pancreas. The cells don’t recognize insulin, so the hormone can’t attach to cells to help deliver glucose (blood sugar) into cells to be used for energy. This is referred to as insulin resistance – cells become resistant to recognizing and using insulin.
To try to get around this problem, in the early stages of insulin resistance, the pancreas makes more insulin. At first this works, but after a while the pancreas gets exhausted from all the extra work and it loses its ability to make enough insulin. The reasons why insulin resistance develops is not completely understood. But the good news about type 2 diabetes is that it can be managed very effectively by lifestyle changes – diet, weight loss, and when needed, medication and possibly insulin.
Bottom line: Knowledge is power. Get tested and learn more about diabetes. The more you know the healthier you will be.
For more information about preventing and managing diabetes take a look at one of my latest books, The Diabetes Counter, 5th ed.
© NRH Nutrition Consultants, Inc.
Jo-Ann Heslin, MA, RD, CDN is a registered dietitian and the author of the nutrition counter series for Pocket Books with sales of more than 8.5 million books.
Look for:
The Diabetes Counter, 5th Ed., 2014
The Fat and Cholesterol Counter, 2014
The Most Complete Food Counter, 3rd ed., 2013
The Calorie Counter, 6th Ed., 2013
The Complete Food Counter, 4th ed., 2012
The Protein Counter, 3rd Ed., 2011
The Ultimate Carbohydrate Counter, 3rd Ed., 2010
The Healthy Wholefoods Counter, 2008
Your Complete Food Counter App: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/your-complete-food-counter/id444558777?mt=8
For more information on Jo-Ann and her books, go to: www.TheNutritionExperts.com.
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