Partners in crime: Diabetes and obesity

The number of Americans with type 2 diabetes has almost doubled in the past decade, to an estimated 24 million. That includes the one in four who don’t even know they have the disease. And some experts believe it won't be long before that number exceeds 30 million.

Why the explosion? Obesity. Up to a third of us are now clinically obese. And since the vast majority of people with type 2 diabetes are also overweight, it's no wonder those two disorders are often referred to as twin epidemics. Indeed, three out of four respondents to a Consumer Reports survey of 5,012 people with type 2 diabetes said they were overweight. And overweight respondents were more than twice as likely to say that they were unsuccessful at managing their diabetes.

The good news is that efforts to rein in excess weight can help prevent and control the condition. For example, a three-year study published in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that for people at high risk for type 2 diabetes, a 7 percent weight loss through diet and 30 minutes of exercise, five days per week, resulted in a 58 percent drop in the expected incidence of the disease. And our survey found that efforts to control weight, by improving diet and increasing activity, were effective strategies for helping people successfully manage their diabetes. Diabetes educators and dietitians were rated as being more helpful than primary-care physicians and endocrinologists in educating patients about nutrition.

The bottom line: The solution to tackling obesity and diabetes is simple. You can't choose your parents, but there are no barriers to eating right and exercising.

—Marvin M. Lipman, M.D., Consumer Reports’ chief medical adviser

Comments

[Tim]

G.K., The BMI (Body-Mass Index) does not take into account people who exercise and build muscle but to suggest this is why there are more fat Americans is not reality. Most of us need to exercise more and eat less fat.

[Tom]

The Standard American Diet (SAD) is to blame here: processed food, fast food, and junk food have replaced the healthy, locally grown vegetables, the natural, free-range meats, the wholesome grains of yesteryear. The obesity epidemic underway in this country is fueled by POOR NUTRITION-- our body's response to lack of dietary nutrients is HUNGER. Our body is telling us that it is not getting enough of what it needs from the food we are eating. Calories are not nutrition! You can eat all the junk food you want and an hour later you will be hungry again, because you didn't give your body what it needed.

Most people think they need to go on a diet and restrict calorie intake to lose weight. Yes, you can lose weight that way but it is not the right kind of weight loss-- you want to lose FAT, and you need to understand the way your body burns calories in order to achieve that. Your body burns carbohydrates in preference to burning fat; it will burn off all the carbs you have eaten, plus the carbs it has stored in your liver, before it starts the process of converting stored fat into energy. Even if you restrict calories, but the calories you consume are in the form of nutrient-poor carbohydrates such as chips, crackers, cookies, french fries and the like (staples of the SAD diet), your body will not be burning fat until all those carbs are burned off. Moreover, if you are consuming simple carbs (sugars and starches) your blood sugar levels rise and this causes your body to secrete more insulin. Insulin puts your body in a FAT STORAGE mode.

The best way to give your body the nutrition it needs is to consume ORGANIC, RAW, LOCALLY GROWN vegetables and fruits. You can supplement with green superfoods (spirulina, chlorella, wheat grass, barley grass, etc.) if you like. When you give your body the nutrition it needs you will find that hunger cravings go away and you will naturally eat less. You will also have more energy and will feel like being more active. This is the right way to "eat right and exercise".

[Controlled diabetes diet]

Thanks for posting this kind of information. It will help a lot of people, especially those who already have diabetes and to those who wants to control it. Aside from the above information, what are the other advise you can share to us?

[G. K.]

Lets get real, yes we are more obese but the medical field has also lowered the numbers. Normal was 125 and under, they are working now to lower it to 100 and under, which means almost everyone will be a diabetic.
Lets keep the drug companies going!