A new study has revealed that 50 percent (50%) of US adults have diabetes and pre-diabetes. And health experts inform that this is a good thing.
While the news may sound alarming at first, the researchers inform that it actually reflects progress – it’s the first time in the 20 years that the number of diabetics has began to plateau in the United States. For the past two (2) decades the number has always been on the rise.
The new study validates an earlier study which found that the percentage of American adults with type 2 diabetes and pre-diabetes has remained the same between 2008 and 2012.
Amy Rothberg and William Herman, a couple of field experts with the University of Michigan, wrote an accompanying article for the study and said that “Although obesity and Type 2 diabetes remain major clinical and public health problems in the United States, the current data provide a glimmer of hope”.
They added the new study has indicated that the physical activity policies, and the nutrition and food regulations implemented by local, state and federal governments, are now beginning to pay off.
The research team looked at data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and saw that between 2008 and 2009, and between 2011 and 2012 the percentage of American adults with type 2 diabetes stayed the same – 12 percent (12%) to 14 percent (14%).
Another win is that the number of American adults who had type 2 diabetes without knowing it also decreased. Between 1994 and 1998 40.3 percent (40.3%) of American adults were in this situation, but between 2011 and 2012 their number dropped down to just 31 percent (31%).
However, the researchers note that a lot more Mexican Americans and Asian Americans are currently unaware that they’re living with type 2 diabetes, compared to African Americans and European Americans. The reason may be that many members of these groups don’t have health insurance.
As for the number of American adults who have pre-diabetes, unfortunately it has increased. It went from being 29 percent (29%) between 1990 and 2002, to being 36 percent (36%) between 2007 and 2010, to being 37 percent (37%) or 38 percent (38%) between2011 and 2012.
The overall conclusion of the study was that somewhere between 49 percent (49%) and 52 percent (52%) of all Americans were living with either pre-diabetes or type 2 diabetes between 2011 and 2012.
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