A Third of Minnesotans are Diabetic or Pre Diabetic

Tue, 17 Jan 2012
Almost a third of adults Minnesotans are diabetic or have pre-diabetes .

The past two decades have seen diabetes growing so rapidly that state health officials have defined the disease as an epidemic threatening to take over the state's health care system.

Diabetes can lead to amputation, heart failure and impaired vision. It also costs the State of Minnesota $2.6 billion per year.

Mayo Clinic and the University of Minnesota researchers are intent on having conquered the chronic condition within the next decade.

Diabetes takes a hold on the body when it ceases producing or becomes resistant to insulin . Without insulin an individual is unable to convert food to energy. Blood sugar levels can increase to dangerous levels whilst the body in effect starves.

In 1921 the discovery of insulin transformed the most serious form of diabetes from a fatal disease to a chronic condition. Individuals on their death bed could be revived with an injection. The Nobel Prize was awarded to the Canadians who made this discovery.

91 years on diabetes remains a devastating disease. Exposure to excessive blood sugar levels can lead to blindness, kidney failure, amputations, heart disease as well as strokes .

Type 2 diabetes, unlike Type 1 diabetes, is strongly related to excess weight gain and lack of activity. It is not, therefore, that State health department officials stated that for every 10 diabetic Minnesotans, there are five who are obese .

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