In a column in the Huffington Post 
(5/24), Marki Flannery, president of Partners in Care, wrote, “More people than ever are living with type 2, or adult-onset, diabetes. According to recent figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, diabetes affects 25.8 million Americans, or 8.3 percent of the population (including both diagnosed and undiagnosed cases).” In 2010, “nearly two million Americans were newly diagnosed.” Flannery went on to detail strategies for caretakers of people with type 2 diabetes to help keep patients well and their condition under good control.
Physician Makes Case For Lifestyle Changes To Slow Coming Tide Of Type 2 Diabetes Cases. In a guest column in the Des Moines Register (5/24), Dr. Robert S. Bar, of the University of Iowa College of Medicine, wrote, “Unless Americans drastically change their dietary and exercise habits, diabetes may play a major role in nearly 90 percent of all patients seen by US physicians in the next five to 10 years.” Of special concern is “a larger, poorly defined group of people that arguably could double or triple the current number of people with diabetes,” that is, those who have been “described by physicians as having ‘borderline diabetes’ or ‘pre-diabetes.'” Bar made the case for lifestyle changes to slow the coming tide of type 2 diabetes patients, such as exercise, losing weight, cutting out junk foods, and being aware of family history.
Small Dietary Changes May Make Big Difference In Diabetes Risk. HealthDay (5/24, Dallas) reported that, according to a study published online May 18 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, when it comes to diabetes, “small dietary changes can make a big difference in risk, even without weight loss and particularly among blacks.” Researchers arrived at this conclusion after putting “69 overweight people at risk for diabetes on diets for eight weeks with only small reductions to their fat or carbohydrate intake.” Notably, “at eight weeks, the group on the lower-fat diet had significantly higher insulin secretion and better glucose tolerance and tended to have higher insulin sensitivity,” the study’s lead author said. These changes were even more pronounced among the black study participants.
