Half of Americans Have Diabetes or High Blood Sugar, Survey Finds

[IDemo]

Source: NBC

Half of all U.S. adults have diabetes or blood sugar so high they're almost diabetic, researchers reported Tuesday.

And for the first time they've looked at diabetes rates among Asian-Americans and find they are nearly as high as rates among other minorities. Twenty percent of Asian-Americans had diabetes, the survey found, and half of them were not aware of it.

Andy Menke of global health research company Social & Scientific Systems, Catherine Cowie of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and others used annual national survey data of 5,000 people for their report.

They found that 12 percent to 14 percent of adults had diagnosed diabetes in 2012, the latest data available. It's almost all Type 2 diabetes, which is caused by poor diet, obesity and a lack of exercise.

Read more: http://www.nbcnews.com/health/diabetes/half-americans-have-diabetes-or-high-blood-sugar-survey-finds-n423491

[yourout]

1. I'm in the club but looking to leave it.....need to have my sweet tooth pulled.

Wife and I have been trying to bike 50 to 70 miles a week and it's helping but still a big hill to climb.

[yeoman6987]

8. The title of the article is wrong

Doesn't match the article....scare tactic?

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

24. How so?

Title: Half of Americans Have Diabetes or High Blood Sugar, Survey Finds

First sentence: Half of all U.S. adults have diabetes or blood sugar so high they're almost diabetic, researchers reported Tuesday.


Doesn't see wrong to me.

[yeoman6987]

28. Says half of Asian americans

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

29. Not with reading comprehension.

More than 20 percent of Asians had diabetes and 22.6 percent of Hispanics did.
"The proportion of diabetes that's undiagnosed is as high as 50 percent in Asian-Americans and the Hispanic population compared to about a third in whites and it blacks," Cowie said.


So 20% of Asians have diabetes, and 50% of those (%10 of total Asians) are undiagnosed.

[yeoman6987]

30. Thanks! I did read it wrong

Sadly even worse I read it twice before replying.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

31. Thanks for taking it so well!

[deurbano]

21. Good for you!

[Feron]

40. I finally pulled my sweet tooth by..

adopting a ketogenic or low carb, high fat, moderate protein diet. And I used to be a sugar junkie. I do eat a square of 90% dark chocolate for dessert, but anything sweeter than that and ugh.


A video that helped me:

Dr. Jason Fung also is a great source of information on how to reverse Type 2/insulin resistance. The latter is also a good resource for Type 1s.

I reversed my prediabetes with a LCHF diet, intermittent fasting (lowers insulin in the body), and exercise (increases insulin sensitivity). Being overweight also increases insulin resistance and so losing weight is also part of treatment.

Weight loss is what I'm working on right now.

[Person 2713]

53. And I will add that for folks thinking it has to be all animal fat that nuts seeds veg fats

all have that satiety characteristic . Too many people think HF means they will get fat
Fasting is in many culture practices , religions etc
Another good thing we have replaced with a pill or needle

[Th1onein]

55. Atlins

Go low carb. It works.

[Alhena]

2. How are we still living so long?

Just looking at people on the street in the US, we don't look like a very healthy country. Kind of surprised our life expectancy is still so high.

[whatthehey]

7. because despite health nazi frothing, obesity has very low morbidity impact

[yourout]

9. Morbidity aside the extra weight is effecting my quality of life.

When I do get things under control and shed 10-20 lbs my knees, hips, and back feel better.

[LanternWaste]

15. I like to call people who disagree with me Nazi's also.

I like to call people who disagree with me Nazi's also. It certainly allows us a dramatic lack of rational thought... very convenient for people like us who would rather name-call than engage in substantive dialog and present support evidence for our conclusion.

[NickB79]

18. You'll have to back that assertion up with some evidence

Perhaps you're thinking of the recent "fat but fit" hypothesis that has sadly been shot to hell and back: http://www.nbcnews.com/health/diet-fitness/fat-fit-theory-mainly-flops-long-term-study-n278836

The notion that it's possible to be obese and healthy finally may have been debunked.

While some obese people show no signs of heart disease, a new study suggests it's just a matter of time before the consequences of carrying substantial, excess pounds ultimately take a toll.

British researchers followed more than 2,500 men and women for 20 years, tracking their body mass indices (BMI), cholesterol counts, blood pressures, fasting glucose amounts and insulin resistance levels. Among many of the study subjects who were obese, heart disease risk factors eventually appeared, according to the study, published Monday in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

"Based on this the state of healthy obesity should be regarded as a high risk state," said lead author Joshua Bell, a researcher in the department of epidemiology and public health at University College London in England. "Over the long term there is a tendency to progress to unhealthy obesity rather than staying stable or becoming healthy non-obese."

[jwirr]

19. I tend to agree with this study but don't most of us

have a "tendency to progress to unhealthy (obesity) rather than staying stable" as we age? Obesity is in parenthesis because this happens regardless of weight. We get old.

This study was done over a 20 year period using adults. I suspect all of us regardless of what we do will become more unhealthy in 20 years.

I am 73 - have controlled diabetes - type 2 - and I expect to be a lot less healthy in 20 years maybe even dead. I am obese but my doctor says I am within my range of weight.

O agree that obesity is a real problem and does lead to more health problems. But I just do not see this study as telling us a great deal we do not already know - we get old.

[madville]

48. Obesity reduces life expectancy

That's a pretty well established fact:

"Researchers at McGill University linked obesity with an increased risk of developing heart disease and type 2 diabetes — ailments that dramatically reduce both life expectancy and the number of years spent free of chronic illnesses.

Obesity and extreme obesity can reduce life expectancy by up to eight years and deprive people of as many as 19 years of healthy living, the study published Thursday in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology concludes."

http://time.com/3619251/obesity-life-expectancy/

[Ed Suspicious]

3. What are the systemic causes of diabetes? I keep seeing the personal responsibility portion ie poor

diet and lack of exercise, but what role does our food policy play in the pandemic?

[jwirr]

20. When you look at it in a somewhat controlled situation

like a reservation it looks very much like a tendency toward heredity. So many of our family members have it and many are not obese nor are they sedentary. As the white member of my family our family gets it from both sides.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

25. High blood sugar over a long (or not so long) period of time.

[laundry_queen]

42. I saw an interesting comment on tv from a doctor

Here in Canada we have an evening news program called 'The National' and once a week they have a bunch of doctors get together to talk about health things. Now, I know what you are thinking, but this is not like the doctor shows in the US. It's quite serious and thoughtful. Not gimmicky at all.

Anyhow, they were talking about the rising rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes in Canada and what to do about it. One doctor basically looked fed up. Paraphrased he said, "Look, we've tried what we were told would work. We spend a ton of government money educating kids on nutrition. We have healthy mom and baby programs designed to teach parents how to raise a healthy child from birth. Our breastfeeding rates are up. We have "participaction" activities in schools. We subsidize children's sports and give tax credits for it. Schools are implementing 'healthy eating' policies for bagged lunches. People KNOW they need to eat better. People KNOW they need to exercise. And most ARE doing it....IT'S NOT WORKING. We need to start looking at other options. People need less stress in their lives, they need to be able to work less so they have more time for sleep, relaxation and exercise. We need to start looking at our food manufacturers and DEMANDING that they phase out trans fats and excess refined sugars in foods. We need to subsidize healthy foods, not the junk foods. Governments need to realize that if they put their money in the proper channels, they will save even more in health care dollars."

All the other doctors agreed, or added on to that main point. I thought it was a really interesting discussion and a surprising one to see on tv.

And my opinion on the systemic causes of diabetes - too many carbs. Sugar in everything. Even crackers and meat marinades. A cup of fruit flavored yogurt has a ridiculous amount of sugar but is considered 'healthy'. A large "healthy' smoothie with an 'energy booster' at one of those smoothie places has more sugar than 3 full sugar sodas. And this high carb problem is helped by subsidizing certain grain industries. Corn is cheaper than fresh vegetables.

Which makes for the cheap carbs vs expensive meats and vegetables decisions. Even fruits. Do you know, I can buy a 30 pack of single serve pouches of chocolate chip cookies for less than I would pay for a 5lb bag of apples (that may have 6-10 apples). What do you think someone who is poor is going to buy to stick in their child's lunch? Oranges are even more expensive.

If you are really poor and hungry, that $1 bag of store brand potato chips are a better bet than that $3 bag of salad. If I want to feed all 4 of my kids a meal made up of meat and vegetables, I'm spending $20 a meal. If I want to feed them carbs, we're looking at $5 a meal. Being a single mother who is struggling, I try to feed my kids less carbs overall, but it's really tough because it's SO cheap. I have a vegetable garden that helps a bit, but it's pretty small.

Vegetables and protein sources need more subsidies, and grains need less imo. I like the idea of companies being unable to label something as 'healthy' - like yogurt - if it has over a certain number of grams of sugar. And we have to get over the idea that fats are bad.

So, that got a little too long but I think you get my point.

[Ed Suspicious]

43. That's perfect. Great answer.

[llmart]

54. Please don't take this the wrong way but.....

my family was poor growing up. There were nine of us - two parents and seven children. I honestly cannot remember having "manufactured food" in the house. I grew up in the '50's when most of my classmates were getting Hostess crap for dessert in their lunchboxes and Wonder Bread sandwiches. Both of my parents educated themselves on what was healthy and what wasn't. They weren't college educated - only high school graduates, but they could both read. We had dessert but it was always homemade. There was never any pop in our house. On special occasions we got ice cream or a small bit of pretzels/chips, but as I said only special occasions. We were not allowed to have sugary cereals in the house. My mother would make stewed prunes for breakfast, soft boiled eggs, we only got bakery bread that was rye, pumpernickel, wheat. Margarine never crossed our kitchen table; always butter. Food as a portion of the household budget was much more expensive back then, but they managed. We lived in a rural area and my mother would get peck baskets of produce and can for the upcoming winter when money was even tighter in our house. I still eat healthy and cook from scratch and I'm nearing 70 and take no meds. My weight has always been the same my entire adult life give or take five pounds and I get outside every single day and walk.

My parents taught us that advertising was not to ever be believed. Whose fault is it if they eat sugary yogurt just because some commercial or article in a women's magazine says it's healthy? Read the labels. The sugar content is on there. Buy a yogurt that isn't high sugar content and put some fresh fruit in it. I bought a 5 lb. bag of Gala apples at my farm stand this morning that has about 25 apples in it for $4. I live alone so that will last me almost a month. How far would two large bags of potato chips go?

I guess what I'm trying to say is at some point we need to stop looking for someone or something else to blame for our poor health habits. I'll be the first to admit that I have a terrible sweet tooth, but I've found that I appreciate a sweet more if I don't have it all the time.

[goldent]

56. I agree with you

There was plenty of junk food in the 60's and 70's, and it was full of preservatives. Cereals were as sweet at they were now. Looking back, my childhood diet would not be considered healthy by today's standards, as it had lot of potatoes, breads, fat, and fried foods. By today's standards we were skinny, but in my day we were normal. There were a few kids who were "husky" (overweight not obese) but I think it was genetic since typically their siblings were normal weight.

I'm not sure is causing the obesity, especially childhood obesity. We did have TV and I watched quite a bit, but we had no video games and no computers. And difference is that in my day we ate most everything at the dinner table, and snacks were much more limited - on the other hand I had friends who seemed to have a full supply of junk food whenever they wanted it, and they were as thin as me.

[laundry_queen]

57. Usually when someone says not to take something the wrong way

It means they are about to try to tell them something that they should take in exactly that way.

I disagree with some of what you said. Some of the main things you forgot:

#1 even 'junk' food back then had small portions, was less widely available and had actual cane sugar, not high fructose corn syrup

#2 back then one parent often stayed at home and had time to cook every meal from scratch. I'm gone from the house for 10.5 hours a day and I'm a single parent. Sometimes I'm able to get my teen daughters to start supper, but they are often gone and so my 2 youngest (one is old enough to babysit, but not old enough to cook a meal from scratch) have to wait until I'm home. I can't cook anything that takes more than an hour, or my youngest would be eating dinner and going straight to bed.

#3 Furthermore, basics were cheaper back then than junk food was. I would love to feed my kids rye and pumpernickel bread, but that's looking at $5 a loaf here. Plain white store brand bread is $1.90. Which one do you think I"m more likely to chose, as someone under the poverty line?

#4 I never had sugary cereals growing up, but even plain cereals without 'added sugar' are wickedly high in carbs. Kids really should have some source of fibre and protein at breakfast, not just plain carbs. Cereal for breakfast is bad, period. I don't buy it except for 'treats'. Since I'm gone before my kids get up I don't make them breakfast, but I have told them what they should have and they follow it. Usually they have pre-made oatmeal heated up, or cold boiled eggs, or toast and peanut butter. Many parents don't understand this and think sugar free cereal is healthy because what they teach about nutrition in school is wrong. It's not their fault they believe sugar free cereal is healthy.

Your parents taught you that advertising was not to ever be believed but the truth is everyone falls for something at some time or another. Studies show everyone, even people who think they never are, is swayed by advertising to some degree. I've heard a lot of people think they are superior in this area, but they are not. Advertising is used often because it works. If you knew the lengths companies go through to emotionally manipulate people. It's not the advertising of the olden days. It's everywhere, it's insidious and it's brainwashing. To blame people for the society they live in is not very charitable. Also:

"Buy a yogurt that isn't high in sugar content and put some fresh fruit in it"

Really? At my local grocery store there is no low sugar yogurt, unless you buy the stuff with NO sugar (which is horribly sour - we use it in place of sour cream at our house) or the stuff with artificial sweeteners (not for my kids thanks). And yes, in the fall you can get apples for cheap (I get them for free from my parent's tree) but that's one month out of 12. And I never compared apples to potato chips. I compared apples to other things I stick in my kids' lunches, like granola bars or packages of cookies (as a treat). It's sick that apples are more expensive. Even your bag of 25 apples for $4 is nearly equivalent to my big box of cookie singles. I compared the potato chips to a bag of salad, as in what would someone feel more satiated from. You took 2 separate comparisons and tried to make them equivalent, which is not an honest argument.

Normally when I talk to people who have the same opinion as you, I come to the same conclusion. They have never tried to work full time, commute and raise a family by themselves in modern times. Things have changed drastically since I was a kid. Back then, ground beef was CHEAP. When my dad lost his job, that's what we lived on. My kids are LUCKY to get meat in a meal. Meat of ANY kind. Junk food is CHEAP. Healthy food is NOT. You live alone so you may not notice the difference in prices, because you can afford to feed yourself healthy food. Try being a single parent with 3 out of 4 kids being hungry teens and see how affordable healthy food is. And I DO try to feed them healthily. Even being extremely frugal, I spend far more than you can probably imagine. When I tried to really buckle down and feed my kids super healthy from scratch (This was before I was working, back when I was in school full time and got home earlier) my grocery bill went up by $300/month, I shit you not. I really think you have no idea what healthy food costs currently.

[llmart]

58. I didn't want you to take it personally and yet you did.....

I was merely trying to show you that being poor is no excuse for eating junk. My sister is 74 and lives on $700 a month Social Security. That's it. She eats no processed food and cooks from scratch. If she bought prepared/processed foods her food budget would be out of bounds for her. It doesn't matter if you're single or have a family, you CAN eat healthy on a budget.

I haven't always lived alone. I raised two children. I went to college full time while they were in elementary school and then I worked full time when they were in junior high and high school. I had at least an hour's commute each way when I worked full time. I had always taught my children to cook, so when they were in high school they could get a meal started before I got home. When they were very little, yes, I was a stay at home mom. However, I had a small garden, canned, had an apple tree in my yard that, at this time of year, I spent hours peeling and coring apples and canning applesauce, sliced apples, etc. A neighbor had a pear tree and we did the same with that.

When we had cereal as kids it was shredded wheat, farina (you've probably never even had that). If you think that's lacking in fiber, then you are sorely mistaken. Not all cereal is bad for you. All of my siblings and I are in our 60's and 70's and none of us are on any meds. It's not heredity.

There are an awful lot of rationalizations in your post. I would urge you to be extremely honest with yourself. I don't care if you're honest with me. I don't even know you. But if you really and truly are honest with yourself you'll see that you can eat better and so can your children.

[laundry_queen]

59. Wow, you need to look at your judgmental attitude.

My kids eat far better than I ever did and I'm FAR more poor than my parents ever were. I never once mentioned my kids eat crappy. Yet that is what you took from this. I'm done with you. You are 'splaining' stuff to me because you are making huge judgments about me. You assume I don't do any of the things like canning or freezing (hello, I said I had a garden in the first post and that my parents have an apple tree in the second post - you think I haven't spent hours coring and peeling? Jesus!). You assume I feed my kids crappy foods because I'm poor and/or lazy. You assume I don't know anything about nutrition. You go on about 'some good cereals' and how I've probably never had shredded wheat (huge judgment again, of course I've had it. It doesn't have that much fiber either, I know how to read labels). You have no idea how much I know about nutrition (hint: a lot. I got sent to a nutritionist by a well meaning doctor and the nutritionist told me I didn't need to be there, I knew more than she did)

My initial post wasn't actually talking all about ME, it was pointing out what was going on in society, yet YOU made it about ME. Then told me not to take it personally. You are right. You don't know ANYTHING about me. Yet you felt compelled to 'splain to me what I was clearly doing wrong. I think you need to check yourself first. Your post was more than slightly passive aggressive.

[TheMastersNemesis]

4. Having Been Diabetic Since 2003. Americans Eat Too Many Carbs Per Diem.

The brutal truth is that everyone, even healthy people should be eating like diabetics are forced to. That means only about 60 grams of carbs per meal plus 3 snacks of 20 grams of carbs. The total carb consumption is about 240 grams of carbs today. I have found that the food allowed is actually more than adequate. A person who is an athlete would need more. And each individual should know how many carbs they need a day.

In the day of super sizing even one meal might have 3 to 4 times that many carbs. And such a large number of carbs forces the pancreas into over drive and a huge spike in glucose with the subsequent influx of needed insulin. The excess glucose turns not fact unless burned off. Over time systems break down.

Under such dietary regiment food sales would probably drop by 50%. And such a drop does not fit a consumption society.

[jbond56]

14. That is 3.5+ pounds of sugar every week!

Your body only needs 50g of sugar a day. The coolest part is if you don't eat any sugar your body will convert fat into sugar for you.

225g =1 cup 2 cups = 1 pound

[jtuck004]

5. Hey. We vote in people to create perfectly good sugar subsidies so we can do this to ourselves,

instead of subsidizing good food.

And we are eating badly while destroying the environment we manufacture our crappy food in.

So we are breeding people who may be less able to withstand the environment we are engineering.



us...

[Dont call me Shirley]

6. Diabetes 2, almost was put on insulin, but radically altered diet to where I no longer need drugs.

Its the diet, kids. The sugars, the gmo corn in everything, the artificial flavoring and colors, the gmo wheat, get rid of it, all of it.

Eat everything from scratch. Vegetables and meats or vegetables and legumes. Eliminate grains, dairy and limit fructose, yes even fruit. Heal the leaky gut. Get active.

[LynneSin]

10. A walk through the Grocery Store is a walk through Sugar Valley

Processed foods loaded with Sugar including types of Sugar with fancy names you might not recognize are everywhere. The average consumer has no idea how much sugar they give their kids because the Sugar is measured in grams and well who knows how many grams are are in common things like teaspoons and tablespoons.

So we just keep eating more and more sugar not realizing just how bad we are damaging our body because we keep living because our doctors just keep patching us up. But how healthy and productive our are lives when we have all this sugar in our body? We just sit in front of the damn TV all day and our brains have trouble concentrating. We almost just live a daily existence because each day we feed the monkey on our back which is trying to get enough sugar in our body so we feel almost normal. We are the modern day junkies but it's ok since it's all perfectly LEGAL!!!!

And I should know I was one of them. My life sucked! But that was a year ago. I'm off my addiction and I read labels like a hawk because I don't want that excessive sugar. I do not diet but instead I just live healthy everyday and making sure the foods I eat do not have excessive sugars in them including those pesky funny names like High Fructose Corn Syrup and all the new names for it.

My reward? My life is better than ever now that I have over 100lbs off my body. My mind is more focused than ever and job is going amazingingly well. I rarely am home at nights because I constantly have social events and friends to do things at night after work (I have to find time to get to the gym).

Sugar is a serious drug and this country is addicted!

[Sadie5]

11. I'm trying

But things just are not going my way. Dr. is threatening insulin if change doesn't occur soon. I am vegetarian so no red meat. Some days I have 1 piece of bread but I'm allowed 2 per day. Right now fresh veggies are easy to get but in the winter I will have a problem getting them. My only treat in the past month was a small wedge of pie with no topping. I've cut out all soda and candy etc but my mid section seems to be getting bigger. I was never overweight but about a year ago I noticed the rounding out of my waistline. Due for blood work in December and I will know something then but I think my blood sugar has been high for this past year.

[snort]

16. I beat it 10 tears ago.

I had to do it my way but luckily it turns out to be the way if one is physically able. It was a combination of fasting and intense aerobic workouts that did it for me. Yes it sucked but I lost 165 lbs doing it. Nowadays I eat what I want but stay thin because I bicycle a lot plus resistance training. Blood work from last month showed an A1c of 5.6, no drugs. It can be done if you are otherwise able bodied and have the will. Good luck to you.

[shanti]

41. do you finger prick for BS levels?

if so, you should pretty much know what your A1C will be. i do it on a daily basis, so i'm not worried about it. i stopped drinking any kind of alcohol in july, and my numbers have been consistently below 100 now, which is normal, i believe. i don't do soda or candy anymore either, but very occasionally, get a craving for some ice cream. forcing myself to do physical exercise is the problem, even walking, and i have a treadmill!

[PennyK]

12. Like Dr. Atkins said

Eat outside the box!
And shop the perimeter of the store...that's where the real food is.

[jwirr]

22. Put even then you need to watch what you are eating.

Meats are on that perimeter which means fats, butter is also out there, fruits and fresh vegies, milk and juices. All of these are better for you but they still have carbs or fats.

Example I eat apples often two a day. They are not little so I am probably eating two 20 carb apples. I am supposed to eat 45 carbs a meal. Those two apples are most likely going to be my meal. I can add some type of meat because meat tends to cut carbs. But then I have to worry about how much fat I have just eaten by adding the meat.

[guillaumeb]

13. Clearly Americans need more high fructose corn syrup

adulterating everything they eat. Also adds much to the profits of big agriculture.

As a bonus, medical costs for dealing with diabetes and obesity will mean bigger profits for Big Pharma and the medical industry.

As an added bonus, premature mortality associated with this will mean less stress on Social Security.

[mnhtnbb]

17. There are known health consequences related to obesity.

They've been known for a long time.

Losing weight is hard work. I know. I've done it. I've also been like 80% of people who
lose weight and gained it back. And I am not happy with myself for doing so.

It's tough, especially as you age.

I don't think we do ourselves any favors by making the discussion of obesity off limits.

[eridani]

23. Type II diabetes is caused by genetic insulin resistance

Hundreds of years ago, that helped women living under famine conditions to have normal-sized babies, and you were highly likely to die of something else before you experienced diabetic symptoms. Now it puts you at risk for weight gain in adulthood and having babies that are too big, and of course diabetes.

If you are insulin resistant and live in a society where there is enough to eat and where most work is sedentary, you will eventually become diabetic. The only countermeasure is waging a lifelong war on your metabolism, which people are often much too busy with other aspects of life to do.

[Raster]

27. Yes! There are skinny people who get diabetes and fat people who don't.

The Genetic components must be present.

WATCH THIS! WATCH THIS! WATCH THIS! WATCH THIS:
https://www.ted.com/talks/peter_attia_what_if_we_re_wrong_about_diabetes?language=en

As a young surgeon, Peter Attia felt contempt for a patient with diabetes. She was overweight, he thought, and thus responsible for the fact that she needed a foot amputation. But years later, Attia received an unpleasant medical surprise that led him to wonder: is our understanding of diabetes right? Could the precursors to diabetes cause obesity, and not the other way around? A look at how assumptions may be leading us to wage the wrong medical war.

[eridani]

33. People who are normal weight and diabetic are 3X more likely to die or to

--have serious symptoms. That's because they are unable to compensate for insulin resistance by making more insulin. They stay comparatively thin, but have massive metabolic damage that they may not notice until it's too late.

Not talking Type I here--very different issues.

[Raster]

35. My sister-in-laws uncle, guy my age, went to school together....

... he has always been normal weight, even a bit on the skinny side. His mother is diabetic, and I believe an uncle or two of his is also diabetic. He is having a horrible time. Diabetic complications are basically ravaging the guy. He and his family have been puzzled and at a loss because he is not overweight. And of course, his physician is still 10-20 years behind the diabetic information curve.

In another post on this thread, I link to a TED talk video from a physician who always believed that people developed diabetes because they were fat and glutinous, that is until he developed diabetes. Well worth watching.

[eridani]

38. Thanks--will have to save it until I get a new sound card. n/t

[REP]

51. Genetics shemetics.

Why bother with facts and science when it's more fun to wag fingers and tsk tsk?

(Diabetic from corticosteroid use)

[Jester Messiah]

26. Only half?

Given that so many can't seem to stop cramming crap down their gullets and respond with "quit fat-shaming me, I'm beautiful and I do so exercise, tee-hee" when called on it, I'm surprised the number is that low.

[fifthoffive]

32. I had high blood sugar

So-called "pre-diabetes." I increased my exercise level, changed my eating habits (reduced carb intake and total calories), lost 56 pounds, and my blood sugar was still just as high.

I did some reading, and as a result cut the dose of the statin drug I am on in half. Blood sugar dropped to almost normal, cholesterol and triglycerides stayed the same. Now I've cut the statin in half again, and we'll see the results in a couple of months.

There are other things besides poor eating habits that can cause high blood sugar. I never had a problem with high blood sugar until my doctor decided that 215 total cholesterol required statin drugs. But I do like being thinner and more active, so can't complain about being compelled to change that part of my life.

[Feron]

39. Some helpful info:

Last edited Thu Sep 10, 2015, 12:07 PM - Edit history (1)

Some reading about low carb and cholesterol: https://www.reddit.com/r/keto/wiki/faq#wiki_what_about_cholesterol_and_heart_disease.3F

Also some people have had success lowering their cholesterol on a low carb diet by reducing/eliminating dairy.

I've also read that weight loss does temporarily raise cholesterol due to it being released from fat cells.

Anyway this talk by Jeff Volek is also worth a watch:

[Raster]

34. RESOURCES:

Blood Sugar 101: One of the best, most accurate resources on the NET:

http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/

OUTSTANDING website of David Mendosa, freelance writer and type 2 diabetic specializing in diabetes:

http://www.mendosa.com/

[Marrah_G]

36. We need to get the HFCS out of processed foods...it is in everything

I am now making my own breads, my own snacks and have switched to low carb pasta.

[Lychee2]

37. Does anyone know how long the current standard has been around?

The Seattle Times suggested in 2005 that the threshold for high blood pressure was artificially lowered due to the influence of big pharma. This so they could sell more BP drugs.

http://www.seattletimes.com/health/new-blood-pressure-guidelines-pay-off-8212-for-drug-companies/

How were the standards for the threshold of diabetes arrived at? Are they lower now than in the past?

[laundry_queen]

44. I do know at the lab where I last had my fasting blood sugar tested a few months ago

They had lowered the threshold from the time I went before, which was about 3 years ago. I can't remember the exact numbers though (and it probably wouldn't help anyone here because it was in metric, lol)

[Lychee2]

45. The threshold for diabetes WAS lowered in 1998.

Under the new guidelines, the threshold fasting plasma glucose level for the diagnosis of diabetes has been lowered from 140 mg per dL (7.8 mmol per L) to 126 mg per dL (7.0 mmol per L). Screening is recommended every three years, beginning at age 45 (or earlier in high-risk groups). These recommendations have broad implications. Lowering the diagnostic threshold shifts the definition of diabetes into the central bulge of the bell curve where the glucose level of most Americans falls.

http://www.aafp.org/afp/1998/1015/p1287.html

This was a huge boost for anti-diabetes drugs sales. I'm not sure if the science behind it was financed by big pharma, but I'll look into it. Your lab might have gotten on the bandwagon only in the last few years.

[laundry_queen]

46. Yup! 7.8 to 7.0!

I'm in Canada, so perhaps they lagged behind for a bit (they like to not implement new American guidelines without looking at it themselves first). I've tested at 5.5 for as long as I can remember, even though I'm 'high risk' (obese, had gestational diabetes) and this last test (6 months after my last one) showed 7.0 and my doctor is freaking out, wants me on metformin. I've been on metformin before because I have PCOS but the gastro-intestinal side effects are just too much for me (I have IBS to begin with). I'm now avoiding going to that doctor and looking for another one. I've dealt with doctors who 'freak out' about blood sugar and obesity and I don't care to do that again (That doctor caused my first birth to be a horrible labor followed by a c-section because of it.)

[Lychee2]

49. My new doc took me off metformin and put me on januvia.

Apparently the metformin was bad for my kidneys. My kidney numbers (creatinine) have improved as a result. I don't know if this information might be useful to you, but I thought it might be. That's why I'm sharing it.

[marlakay]

47. Thats what happens when they put unneeded sugar in everything

I spent a bunch of time one day trying to find turkey meat with no added sugar.

They need to make healthy food cheaper, they have great salads already made and cut fruit but its expensive.

[REP]

50. Diabetes can also be caused by steroid and diuretic use, as well as other factors

I became diabetic from prescribed corticosteroid (prednisone) use. Due to the overwhelming history on both sides of my family of both types of diabetes and the symptoms of my kidney disease (I hadn't been biopsied yet, so the exact disease was unknown), I had frequent A1cs done, and I'd always been around 5.5% (not diabetic or pre-diabetic). Then during a particularly high-dose course of steroids, I could barely see, was drinking gallons of water and wanted to tear my skin off. My BG was 660 and a1c was 9.2%. If I hadn't had the genetic predisposition for it, I wouldn't have "turned," but it was steroids.

TL;DR: drugs can cause diabetes. Article is factually wrong.

[winter is coming]

52. Statins can raise your glucose levels, too. n/t