Although the internet is packed with misleading and erroneous medical advice, there certainly are a great number of medically accurate and helpful sites as well. Today I stumbled across an excellent tool to help people quickly assess their risk for DIABETES on the American Diabetes Association website:
The Type 2 Diabetes Risk Test. Their catch phrase is “It’s Fast. It’s Free. It’s Easy.”- and it IS all that!
The numbers of people being diagnosed with type 2 (adult onset) diabetes in this country are staggering. There are nearly 2 MILLION new cases of diabetes being diagnosed each year in the United States, and nearly 80 MILLION people thought to have Pre-Diabetes. To clarify, Type 1 Diabetes, previously known as Juvenile diabetes, is a condition typically diagnosed in childhood or young adulthood, when the person’s pancreas is not able to produce insulin.
This type accounts for only around 5% of all diabetics. Type 2 Diabetes is the more common type, and in this disease the body makes insulin, but either it cannot make enough insulin or the cells in the body are resistant to the insulin. Either way, blood sugars rise and cause problems in the rest of the body (such as the kidneys, eyes, blood vessels and nerves) and that sugar is not being converted into energy.
Bottom Line: If you are overweight and/or have a family history of diabetes, or simply are wondering about your risk, please take a minute and jump to the ADA website and see where you stand. Then take that number with you and head to your family doctor to see how you can optimize your health and minimize your risk for developing diabetes!