How Many People In the US Suffer From Diabetes?

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How Many People In the US Suffer From Diabetes?

Monday, May 26th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed

How Many People In the US Suffer From Diabetes?

A few years ago, independent filmmaker Morgan Spurlock made a film that shocked America. It was called ‘Super Size Me’. In the film, Mr. Spurlock lived for a month on a diet composed only McDonald’s meals. And every time he was asked if he wanted to super size his meal, he had to accept it.

In the film we watch as his body is affected by the high fat diet and we see him conduct a series of interviews around the US. One of the most shocking interviews is with a diabetic man who still ate junk food and didn’t do any exercise, even though he was risking his life. Unfortunately, he isn’t an isolated case. Almost 18 million people in the US suffer from diabetes. And, what is worse, 3 million aren’t even aware that they have it.

Reasons For Diabetes

The American diet leaves a lot to be desired. Although diabetes is often considered a genetic disease, the probabilities of acquiring it increase with obesity. The sad thing is that Americans don’t fight their weight gain. As a matter of fact, the average American doesn’t even exercise the recommended minimum amount. Sedentary life and overeating are the reasons why the incidence of diabetes is soaring in developed countries.

Cost of Diabetes in the US

In 2002, the cost of diabetes to the US economy was $132 billion. This consisted of: $91.8 billion for direct medical expenditures, $23.2 billion for diabetes care, $24.6 billion for complications caused by diabetes and, finally, $44.1 billion for medical conditions related to diabetes. Half of the direct medical expenditures, approximately $50 billion, were for people with an age of 65, or more.

As can be seen, diabetes is a huge problem in the US. In 2002 it was the sixth leading cause of death in America. And this is taking a huge toll on the nation’s health system.

Potential diabetes sufferers need to be educated! Taking regular exercise, losing weight and improving the diet can prevent the onset of diabetes.

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