Diabetes on the march

By Dr John Ellis MD

Diabetes is a devastating disease, which can produce blindness, heart attack, stroke, impotence, leg amputation.

Exercise and avoid simple carbs (soda, juice, white potatoes, white rice, most bread, many prepared foods) can help prevent or ameliorate diabetes.

Notice: many patients with diabetes don’t know it! If you’re overweight or obese, make sure your doctor checks you for diabetes.

From the Centers for Disease Control (CDC):

Number of Americans with Diabetes Rises to Nearly 26 Million

More than a third of adults estimated to have prediabetes

Nearly 26 million Americans have diabetes, according to new estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In addition, an estimated 79 million U.S. adults have prediabetes, a condition in which blood sugar levels are higher than normal, but not high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes. Prediabetes raises a person’s risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke.

Diabetes affects 8.3 percent of Americans of all ages, and 11.3 percent of adults aged 20 and older, according to the National Diabetes Fact Sheet for 2011. About 27 percent of those with diabetes—7 million Americans—do not know they have the disease. Prediabetes affects 35 percent of adults aged 20 and older.

Be Sociable, Share!

•