November is Diabetes Awareness Month in the United States.
Did you know that nearly 30 million children and adults in the United States have diabetes? Another 86 million Americans have pre-diabetes and are at risk for developing type 2 diabetes.
- The American Diabetes Association estimates that the total national cost of diagnosed diabetes in the United States is $245 billion.
The Hardvard School of Public Health has summarized the best way to avoid diabetes down to five simple words:
Stay lean and stay active.
Making a few lifestyle changes can dramatically lower the chances of developing type 2 diabetes. The same changes can also lower the chances of developing heart disease and some cancers.
Control Your Weight
Excess weight is the single most important cause of type 2 diabetes. Being overweight increases the chances of developing type 2 diabetes seven fold. Being obese makes you 20 to 40 times more likely to develop diabetes than someone with a healthy weight.
Get Moving—and Turn Off the Television
Inactivity promotes type 2 diabetes. Working your muscles more often and making them work harder improves their ability to use insulin and absorb glucose. This puts less stress on your insulin-making cells.
Television-watching appears to be an especially-detrimental form of inactivity: Every two hours you spend watching TV instead of pursuing something more active increases the chances of developing diabetes by 20 percent; it also increases the risk of heart disease (15 percent) and early death (13 percent).
Tune Up Your Diet
Four dietary changes can have a big impact on the risk of type 2 diabetes.
- Choose whole grains and whole grain products over highly processed carbohydrates.
- Skip the sugary drinks, and choose water, coffee, or tea instead.
- Choose good fats instead of bad fats.
- Limit red meat and avoid processed meat; choose nuts, whole grains, poultry, or fish instead.
If You Smoke, Try to Quit
Add type 2 diabetes to the long list of health problems linked with smoking. Smokers are roughly 50 percent more likely to develop diabetes than nonsmokers, and heavy smokers have an even higher risk.
Alcohol Now and Then May Help
A growing body of evidence links moderate alcohol consumption with reduced risk of heart disease. The same may be true for type 2 diabetes. Moderate amounts of alcohol—up to a drink a day for women, up to two drinks a day for men—increases the efficiency of insulin at getting glucose inside cells. And some studies indicate that moderate alcohol consumption decreases the risk of type 2 diabetes.
Calbiotech has developed, manufactures and distributes four specific products to aid in diabetes research:
To learn more about diabetes prevention and research, please view the full Harvard School of Public Health report: Simple Steps to Preventing Diabetes.