Diabetes and Obesity: The Deadly Facts

Diabetes is on the rise in the United States, and around the world. Defined as a group of diseases marked by high levels of blood glucose resulting from defects in insulin production, diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure, nontraumatic lower-limb amputations, and new cases of blindness among adults in the United States.

 

It’s also a major cause of heart disease and stroke, and is currently the seventh leading cause of death in the United States.

 

Many sources attribute the diabetes epidemic to the American obesity epidemic. Click here for more. The good news is that there are many steps you can take to control the disease and lower the risk of complications, and even resolve Type 2 diabetes completely. How? Adopt a healthy lifestyle, and make the commitment to lose excess weight.

 

 

 

While it’s common for individuals to struggle with their weight, the looming threat of diabetes can be a strong incentive to start making personal changes—not just to look better in a bathing suit—but to remain healthy and enjoy a good quality of life.

 

If you’ve had difficulty succeeding in eliminating excess weight on your own, it might be time to consider weight loss surgery. Gastric Band (LAP-BAND), RNY Gastric Bypass, Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy and the new Gastric Plication procedure can efficiently enable you to lose the weight and cure diabetes… and even stop it from ever developing.

 

A 2008 study in Australia showed that patient who underwent weight loss surgery versus losing weight on their own were much more likely to see their diabetes cured. The reason was the fast and substantial lost of weight by the weight loss surgery patients. Read full article here.

 

In March, 2011, Fox News reported the International Diabetes Foundation (IDF) opinion that bariatric weight-loss surgery -- including gastric bands and bypasses -- is a cost-effective treatment for type 2 diabetes, and urged health authorities across the world to use weight-loss surgery earlier in the treatment of people with the disease in order to reduce the serious complications that can result from the disease. Read full story here.

 

The Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP), a large prevention study of people at high risk for diabetes, showed that losing weight and increasing physical activity reduced the development of type 2 diabetes by 58% during a 3-year period. The research confirmed that lifestyle interventions are more cost-effective than medications. The reduction was even greater, 71%, among adults aged 60 years or older.