Diabetes Epedemic

Posted by: Curt | Under: 40's/fit, 50's/fit, Children/fit, Diet and Weight Loss, General Fitness, Seniors/fit | (0) Comments

Diabetes is a huge problem in the US and it is getting worse every year. Most researchers blame the obesity problem and of course lack of exercise. These all tend to go together and create a 10 headed monster that causes everything from blindness to kidney failure. It really is that bad and a lot of people are ignorant of it until it is too late. Like usual, diet and exercise are critical elements in controlling diabetes.

By 2050, an estimated 48 million Americans will have type 2 diabetes as the epidemic continues unabated, according to new federal projections.

But along with the disease will come increases in accompanying health problems, such as blindness and hearing loss, according to several presentations to be made Saturday at the American Diabetes Association annual meeting, in Chicago.

“From 1963 to 2005, we saw periods of sharp increase in the rate of diabetes cases,” said Linda S. Geiss, chief of diabetes surveillance at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and lead author of the first presentation. “Increases in diabetes cases have been going on for 15 years, and it doesn’t look like it’s slowing down,” she added…

In the final presentation, Jo Azzarello, an associate professor of nursing at the University of Oklahoma College of Nursing, collected data on the awareness of diabetes risk among 442 people who said they didn’t have the disease. But, 55 percent of these people were at risk of developing diabetes, and 52 percent were wrong about their perceived risk, the study found.

“Among those who were inaccurate about their risk, 69 percent thought they were at low risk for developing diabetes, when, in fact, they were at risk,” she said. “And 31 percent thought they were at risk.”

Azzarello said older people tended to be a bit more optimistic about their odds of avoiding diabetes.

“Young people were a little more pessimistic,” Azzarello said. “That was worrying. Not only because of needless worry, but if you think that you are going to get diabetes no matter what you do, then people would maybe not be inclined to live a healthy lifestyle. But if you live a healthy lifestyle, you are probably not going to get diabetes.” (From MSN)

You can get more info from the CDC and the American Diabetes Assn.