Diabetes Rising But Americans Need To Do More

By Denise Reynolds RD for eMaxHealth.com

New data has been released by Public Health Management Corporation’s (PHMC) Community Health Data Base about the prevalence of diabetes and risk factors among a certain group of adults located in Southeastern Pennsylvania. However, it is likely that the correlations drawn from this survey apply to most areas of the country. Type 2 diabetes prevalence is rising, and there is so much we can do as individuals to prevent the disease.

Diabetes, a condition of chronic high blood sugar, affects approximately 26 million Americans, or 8.3% of the population. Around the world, the disease is responsible for 4.6 million deaths every year – or about one every seven seconds. There have been predictions that by the year 2025, diabetes will affect 53.1 million Americans, unless we decide to begin making changes now.