DR. KESTNER: Diabetes epidemic is predicted to overwhelm health care on The Murfreesboro Post

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DR. KESTNER: Diabetes epidemic is predicted to overwhelm health care

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By: DR. MARK KESTNER, Post Columnist

Posted: Monday, October 22, 2012 6:15 pm

The annual number of newly diagnosed cases of adult onset diabetes is now more than five times greater than in 1980.

Two years ago, experts were already predicting diabetes may affect 30 percent of the adult population by 2050.

Some now predict the number to be closer to 50 percent.

Approximately 1 in 10 Americans has already been diagnosed with diabetes.

Four times that number have a condition that is considered pre-diabetic, which often progresses into diabetes if corrective action is not taken by the patient through diet and exercise.

It doesn’t take a genius to look at these numbers and combine them with the awareness of the growing epidemic of obesity and realize that a tidal wave of chronic illness is coming.

It can be difficult to envision the consequences of this ominous situation that is beginning to unfold.

Multiply the numbers of people that are disabled by chronic disease right now by a factor of four or five, and it is clear that the burden on the health care system is going to be beyond anything anyone has ever seen.

Ninety-five percent of all cases of newly diagnosed diabetes are adult onset or Type 2 diabetes.

The good news is that Type 2 diabetes can often be avoided or well controlled with intentional effort to maintain a strict sensible diet and increasing physical activity.

Even more concerning is the increasing number of children and adolescents that are being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, which should be a very rare diagnosis for a child.

For those concerned about the potential of developing diabetes, there are ways to halt the progression of the disease, and possibly, even reverse it.

Although heredity does play a role, there are other primary factors that can be address, such as diet and exercise.

The diabetes prevention plan is really quite simple.

Learn to recognize foods that break down easily into blood sugar and avoid eating them.

This can be confusing to some patients, as they cannot seem to get away from thinking that diabetes food issues revolve solely around foods that are sweet.

Many foods that are high in starches are actually a bigger threat to balancing blood sugar than a dish such as ice cream.

A tool called the glycemic index is invaluable to learning to recognize foods that will rapidly elevate blood sugar.

The glycemic index is a scientific description of how fast a food can be broken down into blood sugar in the body.

This is often where the confusion comes into play.

Blood sugar is not the same thing as table sugar. Carbohydrates such as sugars and starches are digested in the body to produce blood sugar.

White bread and crackers, for example, will result in a very rapid rise in blood sugar, so these kinds of foods should be eaten sparingly when trying to control blood sugar.

Eating foods that contain complex carbohydrates and healthy fiber, like vegetables and whole grains, is a very important aspect of the dietary recommendations.

For someone who is possibly at risk of developing diabetes, the best place to start in developing an avoidance plan is with a primary care physician.

In addition to a careful health history, a doctor will want to do a test called hemoglobin A1c.

The A1c test can be a snapshot indicating how well a patient’s body is regulating blood sugar.

I recommend patients at risk of developing diabetes get an A1C test initially as a baseline even if their risk is small.

Changes over time can indicate how well an eating and exercise plan is working.

In terms of exercise, recent research indicates that a half hour of moderate exercise daily is a great way to reduce the risk of diabetes.

Every patient responds differently to various dietary approaches and levels of activity, though, so it is important to monitor progress closely with the help of a doctor.

Tagged under Diabetes, Health, Health Care, Living Well, Mark Kestner

Member Opinions:

By: sn2s_mtsu_f12 on 10/23/12
It shouldn't be surprising to anyone paying attention that so many people will have diabetes by 2050. The American diet is loaded with carbohydrates which the body breaks down into blood sugar. America is getting fat, sick and diabetic and the blame – aside from lack of personal responsibility – can be placed on corn subsidies, or rather, government intervention in the market.

With the government subsidizing corn, corn syrup replaced real sugar as the sweetener in most products. You can't count five foods in a modern grocery store without finding some form of corn products. Public schools can't teach kids to read so why do we expect government food subsidy programs to prevent starvation or down-on-their-luck farmers.

The intention of government programs always comes with a huge unforeseen and extremely negative effect. Of course subsidizing corn made a lot of food cheaper. However it resulted in destroying the diet for Americans with subsidized addictive fake sugar.

Let me explain this vicious cycle caused by government intervention. The American tax payer pays into corn subsidies, which in turn makes Americans fat, which in turn costs the American tax payer in medical bills. Americans are effectively paying to give each other diabetes, and then pay for covering medical costs associated with diabetes. Good job America.

As this well written article said: avoid sugars and starches, check the glycemic index and exercise. Good luck.