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• Position: Diabetes

Diabetes is an epidemic in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Ga. There are 38,000,000 diagnosed cases nationwide, and that number is growing by four new cases every minute. Ninety-five percent of diabetics have the type 2 variety. Additionally, there are 76,000,000 prediabetics (people who have abnormally high blood sugar but do not yet have symptoms of diabetes).

Twenty-five percent of those diagnosed with type 2 diabetes do nothing about it, which leads to complications that can include blindness, loss of limbs, kidney disease, heart failure, stroke, and early death.

Type 1 diabetes most often is discovered in adolescence. A type 1 diabetic produces none of the hormone (insulin) required to use the sugar the body extracts from food. Type 1 diabetes, so far, is lifelong, and is managed by continual insulin injections. About five percent of all diabetics in the U.S. have type 1.

Type 2 diabetes usually is discovered in people over 40, though it can occur earlier. Type 2 diabetes comes from something going wrong with a minute structure called an insulin receptor. In a type 2 diabetic, there is plenty of insulin but, when the insulin receptors do not function correctly, the insulin cannot get into the cells, and the sugar that is available from food cannot be utilized.

Diabetes is not contagious, but those who develop the malady generally have several things in common: a family history of diabetes; obesity; lack of regular exercise; and being over 40. In adults, a good deal of work involves sitting at a desk for eight hours a day. Being stationary for most of the day, and going home at night to sit and watch TV, can contribute to developing diabetes.

Nervous eating puts on weight as well, and most snacks are full of sugar, salt, and starch--more weight and higher diabetes risk. However, those who do physical labor are at risk if they...