Friday, November 5, 2010

Obesity trends: one third of U.S. could have diabetes by 2050

One 3rd of all Americans can be dealing with diabetes by 2050 if the disease continues spreading at the current pace. The Centers for Disease Control released a report Friday attributing the projected trend to rising obesity rates and an aging population. The cost of diabetes treatment is increasing along with the incidence of the disease and also the CDC is trying to slow down both with public campaigns for healthy diet and exercise. Source for this article – Obesity trends project one in three diabetic Americans by 2050 by Personal Money Store.

Millions are diabetic and don’t even know it

Diabetes presently affects 1 in 10 Americans — about 23.6 million people, according to the CDC. A CNN article on the study reported that if obesity trends continue, diabetes cases are expected to double and possibly triple by 2050. Right now, diabetes is a condition that 6 million people have but don’t know about it. Those who are pre-diabetic and will develop diabetes unless their lifestyle changed are 57 million Americans with excess fat around their midsection, the CDC reports. Most will end up with bodies that can’t produce insulin giving them type 2 diabetes.

Costs to treat diabetes goes up

There is nothing to do to prevent growing older and preventing diabetes that way. Eating healthy and getting exercise is something any person can do. This is the biggest thing one can do to help their risk. You can save money by simply avoiding obesity. According to the American Diabetes Association, Americans already spend $174 billion annually to treat diabetes. Before you are 45, it is suggested by the ADA that you get screened for diabetes. Obese people should think about getting tested at an earlier age.

A pound of prevention, an ounce of cure

There is a plan in motion for the CDC to help people make better lifestyle choices in order to lower diabetes. Its prevention efforts target communities where healthy food is hard to discover and safe places to exercise are scarce. The prevention will reduce the number of cases of diabetes. However, the CDC discovered there would still be an increase in the cases of diabetes. The authors wrote that without preventive intervention, 3.5 million cases are expected in 2050. 3.1 million people could have diabetes with a net reduction of 344,000 in 2050 if there is prevention.

Articles cited

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



No comments:

Post a Comment