Why is the number of diabetes diagnoses growing?
Medical experts have not yet pinpointed the cause of type 2 diabetes. However, we know that, while genetic makeup may pre-dispose a person to diabetes, the chances of developing it are dramatically increased by being overweight. In fact, a person’s risk of diabetes more than doubles with every 20 percent increase over his or her ideal body weight. Being sedentary makes the risk worse, as does smoking. Other risk factors include high cholesterol and high blood pressure. What can be done to reduce the chances of getting diabetes? The good news is that type 2 diabetes is highly preventable. A 5 to 10 percent reduction in body weight, coupled with 30 minutes of moderate exercise a day, can reduce your chances for developing the disease by 58 percent. Here’s what the federal government’s Diabetes Prevention Program recommends: Step one: Adopt a low-fat, low-calorie diet. This is the same diet that doctors recommend for overall good health, but it also helps prevent diabetes. That means lots
