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Open Letter from the President of Diabetes Living Systems.
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If you have Diabetes, you are not alone. There are an estimated 23.6 million Americans who have diabetes and at least 57 million people over the age of 20 have pre-diabetes. One in four people who have the disease don’t even know it.
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What is Diabetes?
Diabetes is a group of diseases characterized by high levels of blood glucose (or blood sugar) which results from problems with insulin production, insulin action, or both.
Diabetes can lead to serious problems and complications, such as heart disease, blindness, kidney failure, lower-limb amputations, and premature death.
Common Types of Diabetes
Type 1 diabetes is an auto-immune disease that develops when the body’s immune system destroys pancreatic beta cells—the only cells in the body that make the hormone insulin that regulates blood glucose. People with type 1 diabetes must take insulin every day either by injection or pump. Inhalable insulin is also available.
Type 1 diabetes accounts for 5% to 10% of all diagnosed cases of diabetes and usually affects children and young adults, although the disease can occur at any age. There is no known way to prevent type 1 diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes usually begins as insulin resistance—a disorder in which cells do not use insulin properly. As the need for insulin rises, the pancreas gradually loses its ability to produce it. Insulin resistance and abnormal beta cell function may occur long before type 2 diabetes is diagnosed.
Type 2 diabetes accounts for about 90% to 95% of all diagnosed cases of diabetes. It is associated with older age, obesity, family history of diabetes, history of gestational diabetes, impaired glucose metabolism, physical inactivity, and race/ethnicity. African Americans, Hispanic/Latino Americans, American Indians, and some Asian Americans and Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders are at particularly high risk for type 2 diabetes and its complications. Although still rare, type 2 diabetes is being diagnosed more frequently in children and adolescents.
Gestational diabetes mellitus is a form of glucose intolerance diagnosed in some women during pregnancy.
Gestational diabetes affects 7%, or about 200,000 U.S. pregnancies each year.
After pregnancy, 5% to 10% of women with gestational diabetes are found to have type 2 diabetes. Women who have had gestational diabetes have an increased lifelong risk—up to a 50% chance—of developing diabetes in the next 5 to 10 years after pregnancy. Their offspring are also at higher risk for obesity and type 2 diabetes compared to other children.
Gestational diabetes is more common among African Americans, Hispanic/Latino Americans, and American Indians and Alaska Natives. It is also more common among obese women and women with a family history of diabetes.
What is Pre-Diabetes?
Pre-diabetes is a condition that raises the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke.
People with pre-diabetes have high blood glucose levels higher than normal, but not yet high enough to be diagnosed with diabetes.
People with pre-diabetes can prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes through lifestyle change and/or medication - though no medications are approved for diabetes prevention.
Pre-Diabetes
At least 54 million U.S. adults age 20 and older have pre-diabetes, which independently raises the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
It is important to note that progression to diabetes among people with pre-diabetes is not inevitable.
The NIDDK-funded Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) clinical trial showed us that people who lost 5 to 7 percent of their body weight by making healthy food choices and being physically active 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week reduced the onset of type 2 diabetes by 58%. This powerful reduction in risk was found in all subgroups, including men and women, ethnic groups at high risk, women with a history of GDM, and people age 60 and older.
In fact, participants over the age of 60—who as a group have a nearly 20 percent prevalence of diabetes—reduced their development of diabetes by 71%.
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