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366 Million Diabetics and Growing

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Here are the latest global diabetes stats from the International Diabetes Foundation, and they are frightening:

  1. 366 million people around the globe are suffering from diabetes.
  2. One person dies from diabetes every 7 seconds, that’s 4.6 million people a year!
  3. The cost of managing diabetes is $365 million

For perspective, in 1985, only 30 million people worldwide suffered from diabetes. That’s a twelve-fold growth in less than 30 years.

The stats above are for both type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

Reminder: diabetes means your body does not have enough insulin to break down glucose. For type 1 diabetes, the body does not product insulin and is prevalent in kids and young adults. Type 2 diabetes is a in many cases a direct result of bad diets causing the body to produce insufficient amounts of insulin.

Here in the US we have 26 million diabetics. That’s 8% of the population. Another 1.6 million people are added each year. It’s the #7 cause of death in the US.

Sadly, approximately 60 million Americans are pre-diabetic, which means they are very close to becoming dependent on daily insulin injections for the rest of their lives.

On the bright side, with proper diet and exercise, many pre-diabetics can keep the needles away.

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  • http://www.facebook.com/kenleebow Ken Leebow

    For a presentation, I just ran some nutrition facts on a Wendy’s meal … it was a large frosty, small order of fries, and Dave’s hot and juicy half-pound burger. Here are the stats: Calories: 2020, Trans Fat: 3.50, Saturated Fat: 35, Sugar: 40 Teaspoons

    Is there any wonder why we have a type II diabetes epidemic? And of course, heart disease.

    BTW, Wendy’s is parading around the country promoting its new hot and juicy burgers … http://apps.facebook.com/tourofamerica/

  • http://www.facebook.com/kenleebow Ken Leebow

    For a presentation, I just ran some nutrition facts on a Wendy’s meal … it was a large frosty, small order of fries, and Dave’s hot and juicy half-pound burger. Here are the stats: Calories: 2020, Trans Fat: 3.50, Saturated Fat: 35, Sugar: 40 Teaspoons

    Is there any wonder why we have a type II diabetes epidemic? And of course, heart disease.

    BTW, Wendy’s is parading around the country promoting its new hot and juicy burgers … http://apps.facebook.com/tourofamerica/

  • http://www.facebook.com/JynxGirl Jennifer Mondor

    Your information on Type 2 Diabetes is actually wrong. Type 2 Diabetes is a genetic disorder with a weight component contributing to the amount of insulin produced by the pancreas. While weight is a factor in managing your diabetes, it has nothing to do with who will and will not develop type 2. There are many obese people who do not have it, and many thin people who do. 
    This is one of my biggest pet peeves. Type 2 Diabetes is not a “fat person” disease.

    • Mr. Bill

      See the webiste belwo from teh the American Diabetetes Assoc.

      There is a genetic component to Type 2, but food and exercise play a large role too.

      http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics/genetics-of-diabetes.html

    • Daughter of diabetic

      I have heard evidence that changing your diet to one of predominantly fresh foods (un- processed vegetables, fruits, nut and seeds and mostly raw when possible) can cure adult on-set type two diabetes within a matter of months.  As does a gastric bypass in many cases.  It’s not the weight itself that causes it, but the highly processed, changed foods with altered fats and sugars that cause many people to get diabetes that wouldn’t have otherwise.  Weight gain or obesity is simply a symptom of eating a diet of nutrient-depleted ”food” as well as not getting enough exercise.  But I know there are a few people who, as you say, get diabetes anyway, in this case there would be a genetic predisposition.

  • Leighann D-Mom

    I wanted to mention that I hate when media says “suffers from diabetes.” My child lives with type 1 diabetes, but does not *suffer*. Yes, there are many ways in which her life and our family’s life is affected, but she is a vivacious, active seven-year-old.

    Also to say that type 1 diabetes is prevalent in children and young adults is somewhat incorrect and implies that once they are no longer children or young adults that they will outgrow it. Young people with type 1 diabetes become adults with type 1 diabetes. There is no known cause and no cure for type 1 diabetes.

    Additionally, the number of adults diagnosed with type 1 diabetes is on the rise. Many of these adults are misdiagnosed with type 2 diabetes. This can be a deadly misdiagnosis because many adults diagnosed with type 2 are first instructed to modify their diets and increase exercise. People with type 1 diabetes NEED insulin to stay alive. A new term being used is LADA and refers to adults diagnoses with type 1 diabetes.

    To learn more about parenting a child with diabetes, I invite your readers to visit D-Mom Blog (http://www.d-mom.com).

  • http://www.carleencuevas.wordpress.com Carleen

    I think it’s important to note that proper diet and exercise can help not only pre-diabetics but also those who have already been diagnosed with full blown Type II diabetes. 

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