Thousands of people in America suffer from diabetes. Many have not been diagnosed and most are overweight or obese. A diabetes epidemic is sweeping the nation and it must be stopped now or thousands of people will die from complications of this debilitating disease.
The cold hard facts about diabetes are that it’s reaching epidemic proportions in America and thousands of people die each year from complications of the disease. Today, increasing numbers of Americans and their children are obese. This brings on the most prevalent type of diabetes, which is Type 2. In order to stop this epidemic the lifestyle of Americans must change drastically.
In the 1990s, diabetes increased more than forty percent in people of middle age; diabetes in people in their thirties increased seventy percent. According to statistics gathered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, diabetes continues to rise at an alarming rate. It is estimated that more than sixteen million Americans suffer from diabetes, which is a disease that prevents the body from using the insulin that it manufactures. Only eight million people have had the disease diagnosed. Of those who have been diagnosed, many do not take the disease seriously and fail to monitor blood glucose levels or seek diabetes treatment on a regular basis. The result is serious complications and sometimes death.
More Facts
The facts on diabetes are grave. It is the leading cause of blindness, kidney failure and peripheral neuropathy amputations in the United States. Diabetes has many health risk factors, including heart disease and stroke. Each year 160,000 people in the U.S. die from complications of diabetes and health care costs to the country are over 98 billion dollars. The most tragic factor about these statistics is that if diabetics would monitor blood glucose levels, have regular diabetes checkups, change their lifestyle and get plenty of exercise, they could live longer, productive lives without major health complications.
How Diabetes Attacks
When we eat, our bodies turn food into sugar cells (glucose) to be used as fuel. A hormone, known as insulin, which is made by the pancreas, aids the glucose in entering the body cells. Too much of this sugar stays in a diabetic’s blood, which causes body cells to starve from lack of oxygen. When this happens, the result is high glucose levels and over time eyes, kidneys, nerves, blood vessels, the heart and other body organs are damaged. Peripheral limbs can become infected easily and nerve endings can die resulting in amputation.