Lilia's Healthbook: The Unsettling Truth about Diabetes

Monday, November 14, 2011

The Unsettling Truth about Diabetes

Hello Lovely people,

November is National Diabetes Awareness Month!

www.stylemagazine.com

And let me tell you the number are NOT looking good. Diabetes is when the body has a very difficult time regulating its blood glucose or blood sugar. There are two types of diabetes: type 1 and type 2

Type 1 diabetes is is usually diagnosed in children and young adults, and was previously known as juvenile diabetes. In this case, the body does not produce insulin. Insulin is necessary for the body to be able to use glucose for energy. This is the less common form of the disease.

On the other hand, type 2 diabetes is highly prevalent in our communities. If this is the case, the body does not produce enough insulin or the cells of the body ignore the insulin produced by the body. The statistics on diabetes in the U.S. is alarming to say the least:

Total prevalence of diabetes

Total: 25.8 million children and adults in the United States—8.3% of the population—have diabetes.

Diagnosed: 18.8 million people

Undiagnosed: 7.0 million people

Prediabetes: 79 million people*

* In contrast to the 2007 National Diabetes Fact Sheet, which used fasting glucose data to estimate undiagnosed diabetes and prediabetes, the 2011 National Diabetes Fact Sheet uses both fasting glucose and A1C levels to derive estimates for undiagnosed diabetes and prediabetes. These tests were chosen because they are most frequently used in clinical practice.

New Cases: 1.9 million new cases of diabetes are diagnosed in people aged 20 years and older in 2010.

In an article released today by the International Diabetes Federation, at least 1 in 10 adults could have diabetes by 2030! Crazy. The information that was startling for me was that 'according to the World Health Organization, there are about 346 million people worldwide with diabetes, with more than 80 percent of deaths occurring in 'developing' countries.'

My Questions:

Why is diabetes growing rampant in 'developing' countries, countries who plagued more so by infectious diseases (communicable) diseases? Many (not all) of those 'developing' countries are geographically located in Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa.
What shift is going on in those countries to cause more than 80 percent of deaths occurring in 'developing' countries?!! Is it simply behavior and lifestyle of the people who live there or is it bigger? Are there structural, social and economic inequalities causing such a divide not only between countries but within countries? What's going on?

Any thoughts or feedback?