At its present rate of increase, diabetes will be a fact of life for a third of the U.S. Population by 2026. An increasing trend toward obesity and an aging populace were cited as the main troubles in a Centers for Disease Control report published on Oct. 22. As the cost of treating diabetes is expected to triple, the CDC has launched efforts reduce the number of cases. I found the article here: Obesity trends project one in three diabetic Americans by 2026 [1].
Millions are diabetic and don't even know it
CDC reports that 1 in 10 Americans have diabetes, which is about 23.6 million people. As outlined by a CNN article, obesity continuing the way it does will severely affect diabetes. By 2026, diabetes are expected to double, if not triple. About 6 million people have diabetes right now. Those are only the ones who don't know they have it. The CDC explained that you will find 57 million Americans with excess fat around their midsection. These people are pre-diabetic and, unless they change their lifestyle, will develop diabetes. Most of will end up with type 2 diabetes, and their bodies will lose the ability to produce insulin.
Costs to treat diabetes goes up
Diabetes could be caused by age simply. There is nothing you can do about getting older though. Since obesity is the biggest factor that raises risk, any person can get more exercise and have a healthy diet. Avoiding obesity can do wonders. You will conserve money without it. $174 billion is spent annually on diabetes treatment along, the American Diabetes Association explains. The ADA recommends that every person, even if they are not obese, get screened for diabetes by age 45. Check at an earlier age if you are obese. That is the recommendation.
Just adding pounds of prevention is better than giving ounces of a cure
There is a plan in motion for the CDC to help people make better lifestyle choices in order to cut back diabetes. Its prevention efforts target communities where healthy food is hard to discover and safe places to exercise are scarce. Even so, the CDC record found that prevention efforts could reduce the number of cases but not keep them from increasing overall. By 2026, 3.5 million cases of diabetes will be found without any kind of prevention. Prevention will only give a net reduction of 344,000 by 2026. That means there will still be 3.1 million cases.
Citations
CNN
pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com/2010/10/22/diabetes-numbers-expected-to-triple-by-2050/?npt=NP1
ABC News
abcnews.go.com/Health/Diabetes/cdc-predicts-dramatic-increase-diabetes/story?id=11946076
MedPage Today
medpagetoday.com/Cardiology/Diabetes/22922
Links:
[1] http://personalmoneystore.com/moneyblog/2010/10/22/obesity-trends-diabetic-americans/