in sickness and in health

The CDC released its 2007 National Diabetes Fact Sheet recently. Among the notable findings, 24 million Americans suffer from diabetes, with another 57 million in a pre-diabetic state. 90-95% of these are type 2 diabetes, also known as non-insulin dependent or adult-onset diabetes. It is by and large a preventable form of the disease.



While pre-diabetics don't always progress to diabetes, a very significant percentage do. Type 2 diabetes is strongly associated -among other things- with being overweight and being physically inactive. Many people with type 2 diabetes can control their blood glucose by losing weight, following a healthy meal plan, and exercising. In most cases, their doctors will add a blockbuster oral drug for good measure. If all that fails, insulin is the only option.

However, even when treated appropriately with all the life-saving medications the pharmaceutical industry can offer, diabetes is nasty killer. Its victims suffer increased infections, blindness, limb amputations, kidney disease that may lead to dialysis, heart attacks, strokes, and other ills. It is not a pretty picture.

Diabetes is more common in certain ethnic groups, many of whom also happen to suffer from very high incidences of obesity. There is little doubt that, in many instances, diabetes is a life-style disease. You could say, it is part of the price we all pay for cheap oil. A tax on gas so to speak.

You may have seen those anti-smoking ads that the State of California put out recently. In it they take down the glamorous Marlboro man image to that of a sick person, sitting in a wheelchair with oxygen supply lines in their nostrils. For now at least, smokers are free game. Not so for the overweight and the sedentary. At least not yet. However, it would not be hard to imagine a similar ad that takes down the image of the successful macho SUV driving male to a similarly more realistic representation.