Diabetes Has Become An Epidemic

Diabetes: The Epidemic

On Barbara Young's office table is a graph. A bar chart, actually: four columns of green, purple, red and bright blue showing the progression, in England, of rates of coronary heart disease, stroke, cancer and diabetes over the past five years. The first two are flatlining or falling. Cancer, in red, is rising, but slowly. Trace a line between the blue bars from 2005 to 2010, and it soars off the chart. "Diabetes," says Young flatly, "is becoming a crisis. The crisis. It's big, it's scary, it's growing and it's very, very expensive. It's clearly an epidemic, and it could bring the health service to its knees. Something really does need to happen." Baroness Young is, admittedly, the chief executive of Diabetes UK, Britain's main diabetes charity and campaigning group. It's her job to say such things. But the figures are behind her all the way: diabetes is fast becoming the 21st century's major public-health concern. The condition is now nearly four times as common as all forms of cancer combined, and causes more deaths than breast and prostate cancer combined. Some 2.8m people in the UK have been diagnosed with it; an estimated 850,000 more probably have type 2 diabetes but don't yet know. Another 7m are classified as high-risk of developing type 2; between 40% and 50% of them will go on to develop it. By the year 2025, more than 5m people in this country will have diabetes. The implications for the NHS, obviously, don't bear thinking about. Diabetes already costs the service around £1m an hour, roughly 10% of its entire budget. That's not just because the condition generally has to be managed with medication or insulin, but because by the time they are diagnosed, around half the people with type 2 – by far the most common and fastest growing form – have developed a Continue reading >>

The Global Diabetes Epidemic

Twelve years ago, my husband and I packed up all of our belongings and moved to Trivandrum — a steamy, tropical town at the southern tip of India in Kerala. At the time, I was a medical student interested in studying stroke. For the next six months I dressed in a sari and walked to work on jungle roads. At the hospital, I immediately began seeing a steady stream of young patients affected by strokes, many of whom were so severely disabled that they were unable to work. I initially suspected the cause was tuberculosis or dengue fever — after all, this was the developing world, where infections have long been primary culprits for disease. But I soon learned that my hunch was wrong. One of my first patients was a woman in her mid-30s who came in with a headache, vomiting and an unsteady gait. Her scan showed a brainstem stroke. Her blood sugars were very high. The underlying cause of her stroke was most likely untreated Type 2 diabetes. Here I was, halfway around the globe, in a vastly foreign culture, but I was looking at a disease — and the lifestyle that fostered it — that was startlingly familiar. Today, I am an endocrinologist, and diabetes has become a full-blown epidemic in India, China, and throughout many emerging economies. In the United States, diabetes tends to be a disease that, while certainly not benign, is eminently manageable. Just this month, federal researchers reported that health risks for the approximately 25 million Americans with diabetes had fallen sharply over the last two decades. Elsewhere on the globe, however, diabetes plays out in a dramatically different fashion. Patients often lack access to care and can’t get insulin, blood pressure pills and other medicines that diminish the risk of complications. As more and more people develop Continue reading >>

The Diabetes Epidemic

The disease, for which there is currently no cure, exacts a tremendous toll on patients, their families, and society. Diabetes, even when carefully controlled with conventional therapies, negatively impacts both the lifespan and quality of life for millions of people. The International Diabetes Federation, or IDF, estimates that in 2015 approximately 415 million people had diabetes worldwide and that by 2040, this will increase to 642 million people worldwide. In the United States, more than 29 million people, or approximately 9% of the U.S. population, suffer from diabetes, and 86 million are living with prediabetes, a serious health condition that increases a person’s risk of type 2 diabetes and other chronic diseases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. According to the American Diabetes Association, the total costs of diagnosed diabetes in the U.S. rose dramatically from $174 billion in 2007 to $245 billion in 2012. This includes $176 billion in direct medical costs and $69 billion in reduced productivity. Of the total population with diabetes, approximately 5%, or almost 1.5 million people in the U.S., have type 1 diabetes (T1D). In 2010, it was estimated that the annual cost of T1D to the U.S. healthcare system was approximately $14.4 billion. What is Diabetes? Diabetes mellitus, or simply diabetes, is a group of diseases characterized by high blood glucose (a.k.a., high blood sugar or hyperglycemia) that results from defects in the body’s ability to produce and/or use the hormone insulin. With the advent of, and improvements in, pharmaceutical insulin over the last century, the issue has become less so chronically high blood sugar, but instead blood sugar that must always be monitored, and for most diabetic patients is extremely diffi Continue reading >>

We Give You The Tools To Heal Yourself

Important Note about HMC Parking: Due to construction projects in the area, please allow extra time to park and walk to HMC. Click here for some helpful parking options Type II diabetes has become an epidemic, but there is a lot we can do to stop it dead in its tracks. Like so many situations in life, there are lifestyle solutions that are often challenging to sustain. In addition, there are both pharmaceutical and natural alternatives in the form of supplements and herbs that can be used to support this effort. Few knowledgeable healthcare practitioners would argue that diet, exercise, adequate sleep, stress reduction, weight management, detoxification, and good spiritual health are vital to being healthy whether you have diabetes or not. It is well known that all of these factors have a profound effect on how well insulin works—insulin sensitivity—in the human body, and that this is a very important cornerstone in preventing and managing people with diabetes. Several decades ago Gerald Reaven, MD, from Stanford University, pioneered the concept that insulin sensitivity is one of the earliest signs of type II diabetes, and that it has profound effects on our health. Dr. Reaven coined the term “syndrome X” to describe this disorder, but today it is more commonly known as “the metabolic syndrome.” This condition is characterized by the presence of hypertension, abdominal obesity, elevated blood fats, and the premature development of arteriosclerosis (which causes heart attacks, strokes, kidney disease, and peripheral vascular disease). There are an estimated 75 million Americans with the metabolic syndrome. Most of the time people are unaware that they have this disorder until it has already caused significant, and often irreversible, damage to their bodies. Continue reading >>

The Looming Public Health Crises Threatening To Take Down China’s Health Care System

The slender, steel needle pierced Mary Shi’s pudgy belly. The sharp point pricked her skin and as her thumb pushed down on the syringe, cloudy insulin began to swim in her bloodstream. Shi was running out of places to inject herself: her stomach, arms and legs all bore the bruising from regular shots. More importantly, she was tired of having to forgo wearing T-shirts and skirts for clothes that would strategically cover her body when she went out for afternoon tea with her girlfriends in Shanghai. “When you can stand the psychosocial burden of diabetes and social discrimination, injections are really a piece of cake,” said Shi, a 30-year-old app developer. Shi was diagnosed as a diabetic when she was 18. She had been studying for the highly competitive gaokao college entrance exam when she fainted at school. An emergency doctor explained that Shi had diabetes and if the illness was left unregulated, she’d be blind within five years. Her bewildered parents became depressed and Shi came to resent the disease and the rules it imposed on her lifestyle, hiding her illness from her friends for several years. Shi is one of millions of people caught in China’s diabetes epidemic. In the 1980s diabetes was a rarity affecting just one percent of China’s population. Now, due to rapid economic development, and the subsequent growth in availability of high-calorie diets, cars and sedentary lifestyles, China has the highest number of diabetics in the world, totaling 109 million people in 2015—roughly 11 percent of the population. That makes China home to a third of the world’s diabetic population. The scale of this public health problem is huge, particularly because it comes at a time when the country’s health system as a whole is under reform, moving from a rudimen Continue reading >>

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What Are The Most Comfortable Shoes?

This question should ask what's the most comfortable shoes I can be seen in public wearing? I sold shoes for 13 years and I learned that comfort isn't a brand because there will always be a style within that brand that just sucks. Brands used to be more consistent, but today they're not. Rigidity is the answer and most people who get the advice to buy a rigid shoe will still get the concept wrong when trying to buy a shoe. I will go into detail about sole thickness, leather quality, cushioning and breathability later but right now I'm talking about rigidity. A shoe needs to be rigid from the ball to the heel. Next time you're shopping for shoes, pick up a shoe and bend it. It's okay if it bends in the front at the ball and across the toe box- but if it bends at the shank ( the narrowest part of the outsole) it won't be comfortable. Most shoe manufacturers are aware of this and if the shoe isn't sturdy enough on it's own will add a metal piece to the midsole to stiffen the shank area. This explained why so many of my customers were surprised how comfortable their Italian loafers were. Sure the leather was thin soft and you could bend them straight in half, but you couldn't bend them one bit at the shank because they had a steel piece creating a rigidity. The steel piece is actually supporting your arch. That's right! -the mechanism supporting your arch is inside the shoe. Most people think it's the curvature or contour of the insole. It's not. The shape and contour of the footbed has nothing to do with the amount of support your arch is getting. It's just a gimmick to sell shoes and if you bought a shoe with a fancy arched footbed and it was really comfortable, it's because it had a shank inside. This explains why Dansko's are in the comfort conversation. They're the epi Continue reading >>

How Diabetes Got To Be The No. 1 Killer In Mexico

Mario Alberto Maciel Tinajero looks like a fairly healthy 68-year-old. He has a few extra pounds on his chest but he's relatively fit. Yet he's suffered for the last 20 years from what he calls a "terrible" condition: diabetes. "I've never gotten used to this disease," he says. Maciel runs a stall in the Lagunilla market in downtown Mexico City. This market is famous for its custom-made quinceañera dresses and hand-tailored suits. Diabetes has come to dominate Maciel's life. It claimed the life of his mother. He has to take pills and injections every day to keep it under control. And because of the disease he's supposed to eat a diet heavy in vegetables that he views as inconvenient and bland. "Imagine not being able to eat a carnitas taco!" he says with indignation. His doctors have told him to stop eating the steaming hot street food that's for sale all around the market — tacos, tamales, quesadillas, fat sandwiches called tortas. His eyes light up when talks about the roast pork taquitos and simmering beef barbacoa that he's supposed to stay away from. "A person who has to work 8 or 10 hours has to eat what's at hand, what's available," he says. "It's difficult to follow a diabetic diet. The truth is it's very difficult." Diabetes is the leading cause of death in Mexico, according to the World Health Organization. The disease claims nearly 80,000 lives each year, and forecasters say the health problem is expected to get worse in the decades to come. By contrast, in the U.S. it's the sixth leading cause of death, with heart disease and cancer claiming 10 times more Americans each year than diabetes. Rising rates of obesity combined with a genetic predisposition for Type 2 diabetes has caused a slow steady rise in the condition in Mexico over the last 40 years. Now Continue reading >>

Type 2 Diabetes Becoming A Childhood Epidemic | Miami Herald

Before, the only people diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes were older adults. However, times have changed. In the past 20 years, new cases of Type 2 diabetes in childhood have increased from less than 5 percent to more than 20 percent of all new diagnoses. What is causing this disturbing trend? What is Type 2 diabetes, and how can we protect our children from this disease? Type 2 diabetes is the form of diabetes in which the body is resistant to the action of insulin. Insulin levels rise, and when the body can no longer make enough insulin, blood sugars rise. This is different from Type 1 diabetes, in which the body stops making insulin. Although Type 1 diabetes is still more common among children, Type 2 diabetes — previously called adult onset or non-insulin-dependent diabetes — is becoming more common among adolescents and even younger children. Type 2 diabetes occurs in children as young as 6, and is increasing at an alarming rate, primarily due to the epidemic of obesity in children and adolescents. Type 2 diabetes is also more common among some ethnic groups, such as African Americans, Hispanics, Asians and Native Americans. Another risk factor is a family history of Type 2 diabetes or if diabetes occurred in the mother during pregnancy. Never miss a local story. Sign up today for a free 30 day free trial of unlimited digital access. SUBSCRIBE NOW There are a number signs parents should watch for if they suspect their child has diabetes, including: ▪ Frequent urination or new bed-wetting. ▪ Increased thirst and appetite. ▪ Decreased energy. ▪ Unexplained weight loss. ▪ Genital yeast infection. Another sign that your child is at risk for Type 2 diabetes is the appearance of darker and thicker skin on your child’s neck or armpits, which may make skin app Continue reading >>

Diabetes

Key facts The number of people with diabetes has risen from 108 million in 1980 to 422 million in 2014 (1). The global prevalence of diabetes* among adults over 18 years of age has risen from 4.7% in 1980 to 8.5% in 2014 (1). Diabetes prevalence has been rising more rapidly in middle- and low-income countries. Diabetes is a major cause of blindness, kidney failure, heart attacks, stroke and lower limb amputation. In 2015, an estimated 1.6 million deaths were directly caused by diabetes. Another 2.2 million deaths were attributable to high blood glucose in 2012**. Almost half of all deaths attributable to high blood glucose occur before the age of 70 years. WHO projects that diabetes will be the seventh leading cause of death in 2030 (1). Healthy diet, regular physical activity, maintaining a normal body weight and avoiding tobacco use are ways to prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes. Diabetes can be treated and its consequences avoided or delayed with diet, physical activity, medication and regular screening and treatment for complications. What is diabetes? Diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs either when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces. Insulin is a hormone that regulates blood sugar. Hyperglycaemia, or raised blood sugar, is a common effect of uncontrolled diabetes and over time leads to serious damage to many of the body's systems, especially the nerves and blood vessels. In 2014, 8.5% of adults aged 18 years and older had diabetes. In 2015, diabetes was the direct cause of 1.6 million deaths and in 2012 high blood glucose was the cause of another 2.2 million deaths. Type 1 diabetes Type 1 diabetes (previously known as insulin-dependent, juvenile or childhood-onset) is charact Continue reading >>

Richard Styles: Diabetes Threatening To Become Global Epidemic

With World Diabetes Day on Nov. 14, it is timely to look at this disease and the impact that it is having upon society. Diabetes is in many ways a “new” disease, in that it was rarely seen 100 years ago and, indeed, when I started practice 40 years ago, only a few patients in very old age had this condition. We need to understand that there are basically two types of diabetes. Type 1 The first — sometimes called diabetes Type 1 — can affect people of any age but often children. Of the 400 million people worldwide who have diabetes, Type 1 diabetes accounts for some 5–10 percent of this number. It is thought to be caused by a combination of genetic pre-disposition and an autoimmune process (perhaps triggered by external factors such as viruses). Its incidence is slowly increasing but also varies worldwide. Continue reading >>

Diabetes Has Become A Full-blown Epidemic

Diabetes is a major public health problem -- an epidemic -- in the United States. One out of 10 people over the age of 20 now has diabetes -- primarily Type 2 or "adult onset" diabetes -- and the disease is rapidly increasing. This increase has been particularly striking in the several Southeastern states comprising what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls the "Diabetes Belt." In Kentucky, for example, one out of eight people now has the disease, a frightening fact. Even more frightening is the fact that 25 percent of those with diabetes do not know they have the disease! If this epidemic is not interrupted, by 2050 about one out of three people in this country will have diabetes. For minorities, that figure will be closer to one out of two. Diabetes itself poses a significant health problem, but the real burden of the disease is its complications. These complications are BAD: Blindness, Amputations and Dialysis. The high blood sugar levels characteristic of diabetes, plus the effects of high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol levels, damage both small and large blood vessels. Over time, those with diabetes frequently go blind, have a toe or foot amputated, lose the functioning of their kidneys and then frequently die of a stroke or heart attack. The cost of diabetes is staggering. In 2025, the annual direct and indirect cost of diabetes to the country is projected to exceed $500 billion. Here's what we need to do about this epidemic. First, we need to focus on primary prevention of the disease, and that means stressing proper nutrition and regular exercise. Early childhood is the time to begin good dietary habits, and the conscious selection of food for school snacks and lunches provides an excellent opportunity for establishing these habits. With Continue reading >>

Cities Are The Front Line In The Global Diabetes Epidemic

Today, 437 million people worldwide have type 1 or type 2 diabetes. New estimates published this month show that three-quarters of a billion people could have the disease by 2045 — and cities are the front line of this challenge. As the growth fast becomes unmanageable for health systems, shortening the lives of millions of urban citizens and constraining economic growth, Novo Nordisk is working with a coalition of major cities to bend the curve on type 2 diabetes. We’re calling for local political and health leaders of all cities to ask what it will take to change the trajectory of the disease in their area and to put into practice the new models that we are forging. A rapidly urbanizing world is changing not just where we live but also how we live. As my predecessor at Novo Nordisk wrote, the way cities are designed, built, and run creates health benefits for citizens — but critically it also creates risks. Towns and cities, where half of the world’s population now lives, are home to two-thirds of people with diabetes. That’s why when we initiated the Cities Changing Diabetes program in 2014, we set out to put a spotlight on urban diabetes. This effort has grown into a global partnership of nine major cities, home to over 75 million people, and over 100 expert partners united in the fight against urban diabetes. Without concerted action, health systems around the world will reach a point in coming decades when they won’t be able to effectively treat patients sustainably. We conservatively estimate that the related costs of diabetes — including medication, supplies, hospital care, and the treatment of complications — will exceed $1 trillion a year by 2045. The catastrophic rise in diabetes won’t be stemmed by medicine alone. That’s why cities need t Continue reading >>

How Diabetes Became A Global Epidemic

The rate of type two diabetes continues to rise around the world, and many experts agree that it has become a global health crisis. Worldwide, the rate of diabetes increased by about 8 percent in men and nearly 10 percent in women from 1980 to 2008, according to a 2011 study published in the journal Lancet. The study, which tracked diabetes trends in 200 countries over the past three decades, found that nearly one in ten adults worldwide have some form of diabetes. The primary causes of this preventable disease are related to a poor diet and lack of exercise. Educating the world population on the importance of a healthy lifestyle is the best way to avert this public health crisis. Preventative care is the easiest way to keep individuals, families and communities healthy and active. Global Rise in Diabetes Diabetes is the condition in which the body does not properly process food for use as energy, and it manifests in the body in two ways, according to the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Type one diabetes is an autoimmune disease that begins in childhood and requires an individual to take insulin. Type two diabetes accounts for 90 to 95 percent of all diagnosed diabetes cases, according to the CDC and is controlled by insulin, pills and in some cases by weight loss and exercise. Type two diabetes usually comes on after the age of 25. According to the results of the Lancet study the disease is most common in the islands of the South Pacific, Saudi Arabia, China, and India. Among high-income countries the rise in the US is the steepest. The study found that between 1980 and 2008, the number of diabetics more than doubled from 153 million to 347 million. About 30 percent of that increase came from a rise in disease across all age groups. About 30 percent cam Continue reading >>

The Diabetes Epidemic

In the 1990s, the prevalence of diabetes took a sharp and unexpected upward turn, according to annual surveys of more than 100,000 participants conducted by scientists at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Their study, "Diabetes Trends in the U.S.: 1990-1998," appeared in the September 2000 issue of Diabetes Care . Related Articles 'Poisoning by sugar' and the 'safe for diabetics' foods myth Do 'heart healthy' diets cause diabetes? What is diabetes? The glycemic index: why everyone's talking about it Diabetes is a potentially devastating disease that tends to be taken less seriously than it should because its beginning symptoms may not be alarming. However, its slow progression can lead to recurrent infections and ulcerations, nerve damage, gangrene (which often results in amputations), blindness, kidney failure, heart disease and stroke. Individuals with diabetes have a reduced life expectancy. About 16 million Americans have diabetes, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases' latest estimates. As a result of the new research, that figure could increase by several million. Frightening statistics he study found that in eight years, the prevalence of diabetes among adults in the United States rose by 33 percent, from 4.9 percent in 1990 to 6.5 percent in 1998. Among Hispanics, it increased by 38 percent, going from 5.6 percent to 7.7 percent. Among African-Americans, it increased by 26 percent, going from 7.0 percent to 8.9 percent. These numbers are cause for concern. But by far the most worrying are those in the 30 to 39 age group. There, the prevalence increased by 70 percent, from 2.1 percent in 1990 to 3.7 percent in 1998. The youngest age group that the study considered, those 18 to 29, showed on Continue reading >>