Written by: Jeannine Stein

WEDNESDAY, September 16th, 2011 (LA Times)—–Diabetes isn’t just a problem in the U.S.–about 366 million people worldwide have the disease, says the International Diabetes Federation.

In addition, 4.6 million deaths are attributed to diabetes, and healthcare spending has grown to a staggering $465 billion.

The figures were released Tuesday in Lisbon, Portugal, at a meeting of the Assn. for the Study of Diabetes, in advance of the United Nations Summit on Non-Communicable Diseases Monday and Tuesday in New York. The IDF, an umbrella group of more than 200 national diabetes associations in over 160 countries, will release its Global Diabetes plan this weekend, outlining steps to combat the diabetes epidemic. The entire Diabetes Atlas, which includes breakdowns by region, will be available in November.

“IDF’s latest atlas data are proof indeed that diabetes is a massive challenge the world can no longer afford to ignore,” said IDF President Jean Claude Mbanya in a news release. Mbanya, professor of medicine and endocrinology at the University of Yaounde I in Cameroon, added: “In 2011, one person is dying from diabetes every seven seconds. The clock is ticking for the world’s leaders — we expect action from their high-level meeting next week at the United Nations that will halt diabetes’ relentlessly upwards trajectory.”

There is reason to be concerned. Last month the journal the Lancet released a study that used past obesity trends in the U.S. and the U.K. to predict what could happen if rates continue to climb. By 2030 there could be more than 8 million cases of diabetes in the U.S., along with a 50% obesity rate.

Another 2011 Lancet study reported that the rates of Type 2 diabetes have more than doubled worldwide since 1980, going from about 153 million cases to about 347 million in 2008. Researchers attributed about 70% of the growth to population aging, and the other 30% to the increase in obesity.

MONDAY, March 7th, 2010 (newswire.ca) – One of the most significant factors contributing to the epidemic rise of diabetes rates in Canada is the increase in the number of individuals who are either overweight or obese.  The Canadian Diabetes Association applauds the announcement made today by Canada’s Ministers of Health to launch a “National Dialogue on Healthy Weights” to address childhood obesity and to promote healthy weights.

“Maintaining a healthy weight is not only essential in preventing type 2 diabetes, it is also key in preventing those living with diabetes or prediabetes from developing the serious complications associated with the disease,” said Michael Cloutier, President and CEO, Canadian Diabetes Association.  “Complications can include heart attack, stroke, kidney disease, blindness and amputation.”

The link between unhealthy weights and type 2 diabetes is clear given that 80 to 90 per cent of people with type 2 diabetes are overweight or obese.  While obese persons have the highest individual risk of developing type 2 diabetes, people who are overweight will account for many more diabetes cases, simply because there are far more Canadians who are overweight (7 to 1) than are obese.

“While a focus on obesity is important, it is clearly not sufficient in addressing diabetes,” added Cloutier. “If we are to combat this diabetes epidemic, we also need to focus on the millions of Canadians who are overweight, but not obese.”

One in four Canadians will be either living with diabetes or prediabetes by 2020.  However, more than 50 per cent of type 2 diabetes diagnoses could be prevented or delayed with healthier eating and increased physical activity.  Even a moderate weight loss of 5 to 10 per cent can significantly reduce an individual’s risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

“To address unhealthy weights we must first identify and understand the underlying societal causes of obesity and unhealthy weights.  We additionally need to ensure all individuals whether overweight or obese receive the necessary support in dealing with the emotional and societal issues they face; obtain the educational resources to make informed decisions about their health; and gain better access to nutritious food options,” emphasized Cloutier. “That is why today’s announcement of a national dialogue on healthy weights is so important and welcomed.”

The Canadian Diabetes Association has called upon the government to introduce a Pan-Canadian Healthy Weights Strategy with a focus on setting targets to increase the number of Canadians achieving healthy weights, creating the appropriate public environment for the population to achieve healthy weights and improving access to healthy weights programs and services for high risk populations.  Achieving healthy weights within Canada will mean a significant shift in the approaches made by governments, involvement from the private sector and, most of all, widespread support received from society at large.

Diabetes in Canada
Today, more than 3 million Canadians live with diabetes of which 1 million live with undiagnosed type 2 diabetes.  A further 6 million Canadians live with prediabetes and nearly 50 per cent of them will go on to develop type 2 diabetes.  Nearly 1 in 4 Canadians either has diabetes or prediabetes.  Prediabetes refers to a condition where blood glucose levels are higher than normal, but not yet high enough to be diagnosed as type 2 diabetes.  More than 20 people are diagnosed with the disease every hour of every day.  Diabetes also threatens the economic prosperity of our nation as it currently costs our healthcare system $12.2 billion annually – a number that is projected to rise to $16.9 billion by 2020.

About the Canadian Diabetes Association
Across the country, the Canadian Diabetes Association is leading the fight against diabetes by helping people with diabetes live healthy lives while we work to find a cure.  Our community-based network of supporters help us provide education and services to people living with diabetes, advocate for our cause, break ground towards a cure and translate research into practical applications.  For more information, please visit diabetes.ca or call 1-800-BANTING (226-8464).

Written By: Jennifer Taplin

WEDNESDAY, November 24th, 2010 (Metro News) — The news isn’t sweet: Diabetes rates in Nova Scotia are expected to rise by 44 per cent over the next 10 years.

The Canadian Diabetes Association released its forecast, based on government studies and statistics, yesterday.

Currently, there are about 87,000 people in the province that suffer from diabetes (nine per cent of the population).

The Association expects that number to hit more than 125,000 (or 12.2 per cent of the population) by 2020.

These prevalence rates are the second highest in the country.

Jim Casey, executive director for Atlantic Canada of the Canadian Diabetes Association, said Nova Scotia’s high prevalence numbers are due to the aging population, battle with obesity and lack of government assistance to people with the disease.

“Right now the province of Nova Scotia covers six out of the 23 drugs that are available for diabetes,” he said.

“We’d like to see physicians have more weapons in their arsenal to battle diabetes.”

But, most of all, Casey said he’d like to see the province help to pay for insulin pumps, which cost $6,000 to $7,000 each.

“It allows someone who is insulin dependent to better regulate their insulin, and therefore the downstream cost for people with diabetes are reduced because it’s being better managed and reduces the risk of future complications.”

“It is estimated the direct and indirect financial impact of diabetes in Nova Scotia currently costs the province $383 million per year,” said Michael Cloutier, president of the Association in a release.

“By 2020, these costs will increase to nearly a half a billion dollars per year if we don’t take action.”

MONDAY, August 16th, 2010 (Science Alert) — Inflammation-causing cells in fat tissue may explain the link between obesity and diabetes, a team of Walter and Eliza Hall Institute researchers has shown.

The discovery, by Professor Len Harrison and Dr John Wentworth from the institute’s Autoimmunity and Transplantation division, opens the way for new anti-inflammatory treatments that prevent insulin resistance (where the body is unable to respond to and use the insulin it produces) and other complications associated with obesity.

“We have shown that insulin resistance in human obesity is closely related to the presence of inflammatory cells in fat tissue, in particular a population of macrophage cells,” Professor Harrison said.

Macrophages, white blood cells derived from the bone marrow, are immune cells that normally respond to infections. In obese people, macrophages move into the fat tissue where they cause inflammation and release cytokines, which are chemical messenger molecules used by immune cells to communicate. Certain cytokines cause cells to become resistant to the effects of the hormone insulin, leading to diabetes and heart disease.

Professor Harrison and Dr Wentworth worked with Mr Gaetano Naselli, Ms Belinda Phipson and Dr Gordon Smyth at the institute as well as Professor Paul O’Brien at Monash University’s Centre for Obesity Research and Education to analyse the fat tissue of more than 100 Victorians who had undergone lapband surgery.

Their findings, published in the journal Diabetes, provide the first evidence in humans that macrophages in the fat tissue are producing cytokines that prevent cells from appropriately responding to the presence of insulin.

“The complications of obesity such as insulin resistance and diabetes, cardiovascular disease associated with hardening of the arteries, and liver problems are the result of inflammation that occurs in the fat tissue,” Professor Harrison said. “These complications could be prevented by developing drugs that target certain cytokines released by the macrophages.

“Encouragingly, our study also showed that when obese people lost weight the macrophages in the fat tissue disappeared, as did the risk of developing insulin resistance and diabetes.”

Diabetes affects more than a million Australians and is a disease in which the body does not produce or properly use insulin, a hormone necessary to convert sugar, starches and other food into the energy needed for daily life.

The research was supported by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council, the Victorian Government, Diabetes Australia Research Trust and the Royal Australasian College of Physicians Research and Education Foundation.

Link to Article |http://www.nationalpost.com/Weight+loss+surgery+helps+obese+diabetes+patients+study/3405256/story.html

Written By: Julie Steenhuysen

MONDAY, August 16th, 2010 (Reuters) – Three-fourths of obese diabetics who had weight-loss surgery were able to quit taking diabetes drugs within six months of their operation, U.S. researchers said today, citing a new study.

They said the surgery may eliminate the need for chronic medications to treat the disease and reduce overall healthcare costs, providing a strong argument for insurance companies to pay for the procedures.

Once developed, diabetes and obesity are rarely reversed, Dr. Martin Makary of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and colleagues reported in Archives of Surgery, a medical journal.

“Until a successful non-surgical means for preventing and reversing obesity is developed, bariatric surgery appears to be the only intervention that can result in a sustained reversal of both obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus in most patients receiving it,” they wrote.

Bariatric surgery, or weight loss surgery, has increased by 200 percent during the past five years, as obese people struggled to lose weight and avoid the health complications that accompany the extra pounds — such as diabetes, heart disease, joint pain and some cancers.

There are several ways to do the surgery with the aim of giving the patient the illusion of fullness with small meals.

In one approach, an adjustable band is inserted in a small incision and wrapped around the top of the stomach during the surgery. In another, known as Roux-en-Y, the stomach is closed off near the top, creating a small pouch.

But few studies have looked at how the surgery affected health costs in type 2 diabetics.

Makary and his colleagues analyzed insurance claims data from 2,235 patients who underwent bariatric surgery during a four-year period.

They found that among the diabetic patients who had bariatric surgery, only 25 percent were taking diabetes medication six months later, and that number kept falling.

A year after surgery, fewer than 20 percent of patients were taking diabetes drugs and two years after surgery, only 15 percent were still doing so.

Healthcare costs per diabetic averaged $6,376 per year in the two years before surgery. The median cost of the surgery and hospitalization was $29,959.

Health costs increased in the year after the study by nearly 10 percent, but then fell by 34 percent in the second year after surgery and by 70.5 percent in the third year.

“Because weight loss following bariatric surgery has been observed to be sustained for decades, we believe that the protective effect against complications of diabetes is also likely to be long-term,” the team wrote.

Based on the study, obese patients with diabetes should be told about the risks and benefits of bariatric surgery, and insurance companies should be encouraged to cover weight-loss surgery for appropriate patients, they said.

The National Institutes of Health recommends the surgery for someone with a body mass index of at least 40.

BMI is equal to weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared. A person 5 feet 5 inches tall (165 cm) with a BMI of 40 would weigh more than 240 pounds (109 kg).

Both Johnson & Johnson and Allergan Inc make bands for weight-loss surgery.

Link to Article | http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/opinion/article/1115767

Written By: Charles W. Moore

WEDNESDAY, June 30th 2010 (Telegraph Journal) – Some two million Canadians are diabetic, and according to a new report released by the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES), that figure will double over the next seven years. ICES projects that by 2017, four million, or nearly one-in-10 Canadians will be afflicted with adult-onset diabetes, adding a huge increased burden of personal suffering, premature death, and further stressing already wobbly health care budgets.

The Type 2 Diabetes Guide says Canada’s highest rates for the disease are in Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick.

Health Canada ranks diabetes officially as the seventh leading cause of mortality, but says the actual number of deaths in which diabetes is a contributing factor would probably be five times higher.

The largest factor causing the diabetes demographic to skyrocket is excess body weight. Roughly one-quarter of Canada’s adult population has body mass indices (BMI) of 30 (the threshold for obesity) or greater. However, while clinically obese individuals have the highest risk of developing diabetes, it’s actually the group categorized as merely overweight (a BMI of 25 to 29.9, into which roughly 35 per cent or nearly nine million Canadians fall) that will account for the greatest increase in new diabetic cases, simply by force of numbers.

Together, the Atlantic Provinces take four of the top five rankings for overweight/obesity. According to U.S. studies, obese people incur 42 per cent greater health care costs annually than healthy-weight individuals.

The ICES study also found that new diabetes cases going forward will appear in relatively younger age groups. Principal investigator Dr. Doug Manuel of the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute told CTV News that the most important preventative measure against diabetes is weight control, and that statistically, lowering average wright weight by just 3.3 per cent would prevent 10 per cent of new diabetes cases.

Likelihood of becoming obese is associated almost exclusively with two lifestyle factors: bad diet and insufficient exercise. People who eat fruit and vegetables fewer than three times a day are much more likely to be obese than individuals who consume those foods five or more times a day, and those whose work and/or leisure-time is sedentary are more likely than the physically active to be obese.

A higher proportion of service-related livelihoods as opposed to manufacturing and resource jobs, combined with computers, the Internet, a multi-channel TV universe, home-cinema, game consoles, ATVs and other powered toys, all conspire against maintaining active lifestyles. A recent Canadian Health Measures survey revealed that Canadian adults’ health deteriorated markedly between 1981 and 2009 in areas such as general fitness level, waist circumference, and incidence of high blood pressure.

Either you exercise or you don’t, but diet-wise, it’s more complex.

Getting people to permanently change eating habits is nearly as difficult as convincing them to change religions – maybe more difficult in some cases. Dietary traditions run in families and communities, creating strong cultural, familial, and emotional associations on top of being rooted in acquired taste and appetite.

Unhappily, the diet most North Americans are conditioned to is arguably one of the worst in history – heavy in fatty fast foods, greasy fried foods, high-fat dairy products, processed foods, soft drinks, fries and chips, white bread, pastries and baked goods, margarine, junk-food snacks, sweets and sugary desserts; with few of the vegetables, beans, whole grains, and fruit that are key to any really healthy diet. Sugar, refined flour products, and low-quality fats are the main offenders, with meat an accessory accomplice. Meat (lean bits anyway) is one of the few elements that actually has substantial healthy nutritional value, but fish is a better choice.

Unfortunately, loading foods with fat and sugar is a cheap and easy way to make them taste good – “mouth feel!” It’s tough convincing parents to deny their kids ice cream, sugary-fatty confections, baked foods, chips, hamburgers and hot dogs, cheese, fries, and snack foods, or for that matter to give up these tasty items themselves.

Maritz Research’s “Report Card on Nutrition for school children” gave Atlantic Canada an “F,” finding fewer than half (42 per cent) the region’s six- to 17-year-olds eating the minimum four servings of fruits and vegetables recommended by Canada’s Food Guide, and only 48 per cent the minimum two servings of whole grains and cereals daily.

This region has the highest consumption of french fries in the country. Almost half (49 per cent, compared with 19 per cent in Quebec) of Atlantic Canadians guzzle soft drinks daily. A Harvard School of Public Health study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found subjects drinking one or more sugar-sweetened drinks daily showed 83 per cent increased risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.

Heading off the looming diabetes catastrophe is straightforward in theory. Eat better and get more exercise. It’s the level of sustained discipline required that’s the problem.

Link to Article | http://www.weightlosssurgerychannel.com/breaking-wls-news/obesity-weight-gain-increase-diabetes-risk-after-50.html/

Weight Loss Surgery Channel — Gaining weight after age 50 can increase the risk of developing diabetes, a new study suggests.

Researchers from the University of Washington followed a group of more than 4,000 seniors age 65 and older for over 12 years to determine the impact of weight gain and obesity on diabetes risk in the elderly. Of the participants, 339 new cases of diabetes were identified during the follow-up.

The heaviest study participants were two to six times more likely to develop diabetes when compared to participants of a normal weight. The likelihood of diabetes was five times greater for those who were considered obese at age 50 and gained more than 20 pounds prior to entering the study compared to those who were a normal weight and did not gain weight.

“We already knew it was important to maintain an optimal weight to lower diabetes risk, and this study finds that it remains important into old age,” Mary L. Biggs, PhD, of the University of Washington, Seattle, told WebMD.

The study, published in the latest issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that the risk of developing diabetes was four times higher for those who had the highest body mass index (BMI) and biggest waist circumference. People who were overweight or obese and older than 75 at the time of the study were twice as likely to develop diabetes.

The findings indicate that weight control, exercise and healthy eating are important at all stages of life to stave off diabetes; however, senior citizens should be careful of dieting because they can lose muscle mass in addition to excess weight.

Link To Article | http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20100325/diabetes_children_100325/20100325?hub=Health

Written By: Canadian Press

THURSDAY, Mar 25 2010 (ctv.ca) – What used to be known as adult-onset diabetes is showing up in more and more children, especially among aboriginals, says a recent study by the Manitoba Institute of Child Health.

The study found 345 cases of Type 2 diabetes in children across Canada between April, 2006 and March, 2008. Almost half — 44 per cent — were kids with aboriginal heritage.

“The potential impact of childhood Type 2 diabetes will significantly affect workforce productivity and the health-care system,” Dr. Heather Dean, one of the lead authors, said in a written statement.

Type 2 diabetes has been linked to obesity and other health risks, and until recently, was almost unheard of in children. But as the obesity rate climbs, the disease is showing up among pre-teens. The average age of diagnosis in the new study was 13.7 years, and dozens of cases involved kids under 10.

Ninety-five per cent of the children with Type 2 diabetes were obese.

The rate of diabetes varies widely from one region to another. Manitoba, with its relatively large population of young aboriginals, had a rate of Type 2 diabetes in children that was 10 times higher than anywhere else in the country.

The report’s authors are hoping the findings will lead to new efforts to combat childhood obesity and other risk factors.

“It is our hope that this information will promote increased efforts and allocation of resources for the prevention of childhood obesity and Type 2 diabetes, especially in children with known risk factors,” said Dr. Shazhan Amed, an endocrinologist at British Columbia’s Children’s Hospital and the other author on the study.

The study, funded by the Canadian Diabetes Association, the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto and the Manitoba Institute of Child Health, involved pediatricians across the country.

It’s not the first to raise the alarm about high rates of diabetes among aboriginals. A study led by researchers at the University of Saskatchewan earlier this year found the incidence of diabetes is more than four times higher in First Nations women than among non-First Nations women. For men, the rate of new diabetes cases was 2.5 times that of non-aboriginals.

Link to Article| http://www.nationalpost.com/story.html?id=2262452&p=1

Written By: Beth Maher

WEDNESDAY, Nov 25th, 2009 – Diabetes doesn’t have to be a life sentence. In fact, there is a way to get rid of it once and for all. But freedom from the disease doesn’t come cheap; you’re going to have to work for it.

Dr. Christopher Cobourn holds in his hands a potential cure for type 2 diabetes. it doesn’t look like much–a coil of silicone tubing, more or less–but the Allergan Lap-Band® System can actually send the disease into remission. Gastric banding has been a viable surgical weight-loss option in Canada for over a decade, but it was only recently that Health Canada approved the Lap-Band®, the device used by Cobourn at his Mississauga-Ont. clinic, Surgical Weight Loss Centre (SWLC; obesitysurgery.ca),as a treatment option for type 2 diabetes. this endorsement comes as a result of a study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association in 2008, which found that 73 percent of Lap-Band® recipients with an initial body mass index (BMi) of more than 35 experienced remission of their type 2 diabetes within two years of the procedure. Although the Lap-Band®’s approval by Health Canada does not represent any change in funding (unlike gastric bypass, which is covered by provincial healthcare programs, gastric banding is not an insured service in Canada), it is still exciting news for obese Canadians with type 2 diabetes. “People think that once you have diabetes, you always have diabetes,” says Cobourn, who has performed more than 1,500 Lap-Band® operations himself. “those of us in the surgical world have known for a long time that significant weight loss puts [type 2] diabetes into remission.”

The procedure is quite non-invasive: the surgeon enters the abdomen through a series of punctures and creates a tunnel around the upper part of the stomach to accommodate the Lap-Band®. the inflatable band is sutured in place, creating a small pouch in the upper part of the stomach with the remainder of the organ below. At SWLC, the largest Lap-Band® clinic in Canada, the procedure takes under an hour, and the patient typically returns home the same day.
The Lap-Band® stimulates weight loss through portion control. As food fills the pouch created by the band, the stretch receptors in the upper-stomach wall send a message to the brain, which the brain interprets as if the entire stomach was full. As a result, the patient achieves a feeling of satiety with a smaller portion of food. the sensation of fullness is maintained as the food passes across the restricted opening to the lower part of the stomach at a slower, controlled rate. Unlike some surgical obesity treatments (e. g. gastric bypass), there is no change to the digestion process or reduction in nutrient absorption.

The Lap-Band® can and should be adjusted periodically to ensure proper function. the band itself is connected by tubing to a small port, which is placed underneath the skin and fat of the abdomen during surgery, making it easily accessible post-op. “if food is crossing that narrow part of the stomach too fast and patients are getting hungry again quickly,” says Cobourn, “we can inject a little saline into the port, which inflates the band, tightening it up so it slows down the transit of food and reestablishes that feeling of satiety.”

Although standard risks of surgery under general anaesthesia still apply, on the whole, the Lap-Band® procedure is much safer than gastric bypass. But in order for it to work, it requires two things that are not mandated by bypass: ongoing medical support and patient compliance. ” if they don’t choose to change the way they eat [eating smaller portions, eating slowly, chewing well] or are unable to come back [for band adjustments], they won’t get the success they hope for,” says Cobourn. “the advantage of gastric bypass from the patient’s point of view is that they’re pretty well guaranteed to lose weight. they really don’t have to be as committed as they do with the Lap-Band®, nor does it require the intensive long-term follow-up.”

Most of Cobourn’s Lap-Band® patients have worked hard to lose weight through lifestyle changes but haven’t been able to achieve lasting results. “Our patients come to us and say ‘i’m tired of losing weight and gaining it all back again.’And we say,’if you’re willing to commit to this program and change the way you eat, then the Lap-Band® will work for you.’”

“One of the advantages of having patients be financially involved in their healthcare,” says Cobourn (the Lap-Band® program at SWLC costs $16,000), “is that they are committed. if patients get the surgery at no cost [to themselves], the results aren’t as good. if they run into problems, there’s a risk of them saying,’Oh, just take this thing out and do a bypass.’”

The important thing for people with type 2 diabetes to remember is the value of the sustained weight loss offered by surgery–be it Lap-Band® or gastric bypass. “that’s the message that needs to get out there,” says Cobourn, “to give people the knowledge that type 2 diabetes can be put into remission with surgery. if you need to do it with a gastric bypass, that’s fine; if you do it with a Lap-Band®, that’s fine, too.” it doesn’t matter how you take the weight off, what matters is that you take it off for good.

Link to Article| http://www.news-medical.net/news/20091121/Obesity-A-major-contributor-to-the-development-of-Type-2-diabetes.aspx

SATURDAY, Nov 21st, 2009 (The Medical News) –The incidence of Type 2 diabetes has increased significantly over the last two decades, affecting both women and men alike. Obesity, often the result of unhealthy diets and lack of exercise, is a major contributor to the development of Type 2 diabetes. But despite the large number of cases diagnosed in the United States, many Americans still lack basic knowledge about the disease.

A new survey from the American Diabetes Association asked participants to rank which disease: diabetes, breast cancer or AIDS, was responsible for the largest number of deaths annually. Surprisingly, less than half chose diabetes. Type 2 diabetes has long been implicated as a risk factor in the development of heart disease, the leading cause of death in women and men in our country.

In this country, complications from diabetes claim more lives every year than breast cancer and AIDS combined but according to the survey results, roughly 2 in 5 people or 42 percent chose diabetes. The remaining 58 percent had no idea diabetes could result in death.

“Many Americans have a very limited understanding of the basic facts about diabetes, as well as the serious consequences for health that accompany the disease,” commented Sue McLaughlin, RD, CDE, President, Health Care & Education, American Diabetes Association, in a media alert. She blames the problem on a combination of factors including denial of the disease and promotion of inaccurate information or myths surrounding diabetes.

According to McLaughlin, another reason many people are unaware of their risk is a: “lack of resources to access education that would enable them to learn more about the disease, and take an active role in managing it.”

According to Alfred Padilla, MD, an endocrinologist at Greenwich Hospital in Greenwich, CT, the role of health care providers cannot be ignored. “The main culprits for failing grades are the doctors. “With managed care, docs have very little time to interact with patients,” he says, and as a result, “this gives rise to what I call the “200 club” (weight 200 lbs, fasting glucose 200, LDL 200).” Patients are being told that they are fine, when in actuality they may be at risk.

Risk factors for Type 2 diabetes include: a sedentary lifestyle, being overweight or obese, a family history of the disease and a personal history of gestational diabetes (for women.) “Risk factors multiply,” says Padilla and as physicians, “we need to pay meticulous attention to lipids, blood pressure and lifestyle issues, which are probably more ignored than glucose.”

Diabetes results from the body’s inability to produce or respond to insulin, a hormone necessary for the absorption of sugar. There are several types of diabetes, but no matter what type a person has, the result is: too much glucose or sugar in the bloodstream. The disease can wreak havoc on the body and result in blood vessel, heart, kidney and eye diseases. It can also shorten a person’s life.

There are effective ways to lower your risk for Type 2 diabetes. Even if diabetes runs in a person’s family, healthy lifestyle choices are essential.

•Diet: studies show that choosing low-fat, low-calorie, high fiber foods can help control blood sugar levels.
•Exercise: people who are in good physical shape have a lower risk for diabetes. According to Padilla, people should, “exercise to a pulse rate of 120 for at least thirty minutes per day.”
•Lose the extra pounds: studies show that losing 5 to 10 percent of body weight, if a person is overweight or obese, can significantly lower the risk of diabetes. Long term goals should include keeping the weight in a healthy range with healthy diet and fitness choices.

Despite the lack of knowledge about the health consequences from diabetes, taking an active role in your own health care can go a long way in preventing the disease and unwanted complications. Annual check-ups with a doctor are recommended, as well. According to Padilla: “Prediabetes occurs several years before diabetes,” making screening an essential part of the fight against the disease.

Source: American Diabetes Association