Cure for diabetes will never happen, page 1

Why would one want to cure a disease that is a likely over a hundred dollar a year business? What would we do with all the nursing homes, hospital beds, unemployed doctors, unemployed lawyers, nurses........

If our government can throw billions of dollars like the other self inflicted illness aids then why do they not spend it here. Think about it you know why.

Diabetes Costs More Than Double to $92 Billion 2002

In 2002, medical bills for diabetes cost the nation close to $92 billion, an amount that has more than doubled since the $44 billion in medical bills in 1997, according to the American Diabetes Association. If lost productivity is factored in, diabetes costs rose to $132 billion last year, up from $98 billion in total costs in 1997.

Diabetes, a leading cause of blindness, kidney failure, limb amputations and heart disease, kills 180,000 people each year. More than16 million Americans have diabetes, though experts estimate that 6 million of them don’t know they have it.

Though some people are born with diabetes, the majority of people have the type 2 form, which can result from obesity and inactivity.

Modest weight loss and exercise can significantly lower the risk of getting type 2 diabetes.

Yahoo News February 27, 2003

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dr. Mercola's Comment

The sad reality is that the above estimates are seriously understated. The problem is actually twice as bad as there are another 17 million Americans that have "pre-diabetes", which is literally months to years away from progressing into full-blown diabetes.

So, in addition to paying $40 billion for colds in the United States, we are spending another $100 billion to manage diabetes. The common thread between both of these diseases is that the vast majority of them are treatable and nearly completely preventable by following the proper diet.

I believe it is important to aggressively screen for pre-diabetes, and you can find out how to do this be reviewing what I said last year:

Normal fasting blood glucose is below 100 mg/dl. A person with pre-diabetes has a fasting blood glucose level between 110 and 125. If the level rises to 126 or above, a person has full-blown diabetes.

My question is why would anyone wait for their blood sugar to get to 100 before they were concerned?

I have checked over 10,000 blood tests on my patients and can tell you quite confidently that the fasting blood sugar should be below 100.

Previously I believed the fasting blood sugar should be 87. It now seems that the numbers should be closer to 80. My definition of pre-diabetes is when that number rises above 100.

Pre-diabetes is far easier to turn around in the earlier stages than the later stages.

It is important to recognize that the new recommendations are for everyone over 44 years of age to have a fasting blood sugar as a screen. If you are overweight you should also have it every year.

Amazingly, 25 percent of obese children under 10 years of age had either blatant or pre-adult onset type 2 diabetes. So, it is never too early to screen for diabetes in obese individuals.

The top medical journal, NEJM, in May 2001 proclaimed that in fact one can "cure" type 2 diabetes with diet and exercise.

Dietary modifications were able to reduce the rate of diabetes by nearly 60 percent, and this was done even without understanding some of the most basic foundational truths of food choices. These investigators were absolutely clueless with respect to the influence of grain and sugar restriction on insulin optimization.

So if the traditionally recommended low-fat diet can reduce diabetes by 60 percent, if you use the modified food choice program you can reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes by well over 95 percent.

Undoubtedly, exercise also plays a major role in reducing risk of diabetes.

Considering that there are 15 million diabetics in the United States, and the epidemic is continuing to increase in the nation and worldwide (the condition affected about six percent of persons in developed countries in 1995), this is important information.

Diabetes is not something to play around with. It is a devastating illness that will gradually suck the life out of you and contribute to a life full of miserable health complications.

It is also one of the fastest ways to accelerate the aging process.

www.mercola.com...

www.aventispharmaindia.com...

Counting the Cost of Diabetes

Diabetes mellitus is a serious public health problem that is growing rapidly in prevalence. Currently, 150 million people worldwide have diabetes and The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that this number will rise to 300 million by the year 2025. Of the 150 million people currently living with diabetes, almost 90% have Type 2 diabetes (adult-onset diabetes), and the remainder have Type 1 diabetes (juvenile-onset diabetes) .

The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) estimates that at least 50% of all people with diabetes are unaware of their condition. In some countries, this figure may be closer to 80%. Diabetes is the fourth leading cause of death in most countries and may be the underlying cause for up to 30% of all deaths worldwide. The IDF predicts that by 2025, the prevalence of diabetes will have doubled in most developed nations, and tripled in developing countries. This means that 76% of the world's diabetic population will be living in developing countries.

Economic burden of diabetes

Diabetes is associated with a significant economic burden on healthcare systems around the world, and it is estimated that diabetes accounts for between 5% and 10% of a nation's health budget (see Table1).

Estimated cost of disease, per country

COUNTRY DIABETES TYPE Total Cost / Patient Cost/capita
U.S. 1 & 2 $98,000 $10,071
Canada 1 & 2 $9000 $4,000
Sweden 1 & 2 $667 $3,193
Spain 1 & 2 $520 -
Australia 1 & 2 $387 $1,730 - 2,120
UK 1 $145 -
Germany 2 $12,200 -
France 2 $8,800 $8,540

Every person with diabetes faces a lifetime of treatment and monitoring of their disease, as well as treatment for any other health problems they may develop as a result of their diabetes, such as eye or kidney disease. This places a considerable financial burden on patients, as well as on the health systems of countries.

Further evidence of the dramatic costs of treating diabetes and the complications that arise from the disease are found in the CODE-2 study, which estimated the total direct costs for 10 million people with Type 2 diabetes in eight participating European countries to be 29 billion Euros (US$27 billion) in 1998. Additional results from the study are shown in Figure 1, below: the lower segment of each bar represents the mean annual expenditure per person on health in each country, while the upper segment is the estimated additional cost due to the presence of diabetes.