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Diabetes Awareness Month

By Joanne Sgro HERWriter November 10, 2011 - 1:53pm
 
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Diabetes  related image Photo: Getty Images

With November marking Diabetes Awareness Month, much attention is being focused on what the Centers for Disease Control calls the seventh leading cause of death in the United States. According to the CDC, those statistics break down like this: “among U.S. residents aged 65 years and older, 10.9 million, or 26.9%, had diabetes in 2010 and an additional 1.9 million people aged 20 years or older were newly diagnosed with diabetes in 2010 in the United States.”

There is also much concern over the CDC’s statistics on those who are pre-diabetic, with the agency reporting that 35 percent of those aged 20 years or older are in that category as well as 50 percent of those 65 years or older. Their statistics results indicated that “the U.S. population in 2010 yields an estimated 79 million American adults aged 20 years or older with pre-diabetes.”

Other statistics by the CDC echo what The American Diabetes Association, calls a “desperate situation.” Those specifics are as follows: “Every 17 seconds, someone is diagnosed with diabetes and each year, diabetes kills more people than breast cancer and AIDS combined. Recent estimates project that as many as 1 in 3 American adults will have diabetes in 2050 unless we take steps to stop diabetes.”

Diabetes occurs when one’s body is unable to metabolize blood glucose. This can result in deterioration of the body’s tissues as a result from the lack of glucose. The CDC says that “Diabetes is a major cause of heart disease and stroke. Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure, nontraumatic lowerlimb amputations, and new cases of blindness among adults in the United States.”

These statistics and outcomes may be daunting but there is a lot you can do on your own to combat type 2 diabetes. Exercise and eating right is an effective way of preventing both and complications due to type 2 diabetes. While exercise is frequently touted as a way to promote weight loss and help with stress management, research also shows it also can help metabolize glucose.

 
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We value and respect the experiences of all of our HERWriters, but everyone is different. Many of our writers are speaking from personal experience, and what's worked for them may not work for you. Their articles are not a substitute for medical advice although we hope you can gain knowledge from their insight.

Joanne Sgro HERWriter View Profile Send Message

Joanne Sgro-Killworth is a Certified Personal Trainer/Sports Nutritionist and has worked with numerous breast cancer ...

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Anonymous

Diabetes is one of the life time diseases. It is a like a life time package which can control with the help of insulin but can not cure. The Diabetes Awareness Month is the the time to make the people aware of diabetes and share some experience and provide some treatments to control diabetes.
Gestational Diabetes Diet

February 21, 2012 - 4:12am
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