6 ms·

At Least Half of Americans Diabetic or Pre-Diabetic by 2020

12 points by kkleiner 16y ago

known 16y ago
Take 1000 mg Metformin twice a day. Walk 30 minutes every day. You'll be fine.
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
miles 16y ago
Two highly-recommended resources for those struggling with diabetes: http://www.rawfor30days.com/ http://www.rawfor30days.com/ http://www.drfuhrman.com/ http://www.drfuhrman.com/
Derbasti 16y ago
Is this limited tomthe US or is this a global phenomenon? I would guess that all developed countries suffer from these issues to some degree, but the homeland of fast food and food franchises is probably world champion. Nevertheless, you can't really blame McDonalds--People choose what they do and eat. Choose poorly, die young. But how can you argue for actual cooking with fresh ingredients in a society that does not value these activities? How can you make people see that fresh food actually tastes better and literally makes you a more happy person? How can you show people that light workout can do more to enhance your life than any drug or TV show ever will?
- Joeri 16y ago
  What I don't get is why mcdonalds, with all their clout, doesn't make value meals that are good for your health at the same time. People are lazy, so if you allow them to be lazy and eat healthy food at the same time, there must be a goldmine of potential revenue there. McDonalds could create a market for healthy fast food and dominate it for decades to come, but they just sit there like couch potatoes. Typical innovator's dilemma I suppose.
  - waterlesscloud 16y ago
    McDonald's has tried to do this, over and over again. People make the choice for the bad food over the healthy food, even when McDonald's offers both.
  - Derbasti 16y ago
    Fat, salt and sugar make stuff taste 'good' because these were rare resources when humanity was young. This is the simple recipy of McDonalds and it is true for all food, including healthy stuff. If McDonalds were to use less fat and sugar they would have to use more delicate and more expensive ingredients to keep it yummie. Sadly, many people care more for simple and cheap (i.e. fat and sugar) than delicate and healthy (i.e. unprocessed food). Even though every doctor, cook and common sense would advise otherwise.
yummyfajitas 16y ago
This article also links to the following article on "Blue Zones", which is also very interesting: http://singularityhub.com/2009/07/20/blue-zones-places-in-the-world-where-people-live-to-100-and-stay-healthy/ http://singularityhub.com/2009/07/20/blue-zones-places-in-th...
anamax 16y ago
What fraction of "pre-diabetics" develop diabetes? Note that people who live a long time actually consume more health care than folks who don't. Yes, even if the oldsters are "healthy" because they get more expensive and they keep consuming. Black men in the US are pretty close to ideal from the public perspective. Their biggest contribution is that they die right around retirement, so they never see a dime of what they paid for govt retirement programs. However, not only do they pay the taxes that the rest of us pay (SSI and medicare), they also pay a disproportionate share of "lifestyle" taxes. Yes, dying from lung cancer at 65 is cheaper from the public health perspective than living to 95.
kiba 16y ago
Do you know how difficult and motivate oneself to an exercise routine, much less change diet to a healthy and more expensive one? Yes, it's the individual's fault that he didn't do much about it. However, we must also recognize the obstacles that made it difficult for individuals to do something about it. I drive to school. I don't ride bikes or walk to school. The road aren't bike friendly. The suburban landscape in which I live in, doesn't have sidewalks to anywhere. There are sidewalks, and there's the uncomfortable feeling of walking too close to traffics. Whose fault is to promote and subsidize the car industry at the expense of human health and everything else? Someday, I will move to a town where I can walk and ride bikes to my heart's content. Until then, I am focusing on becoming a viable programming freelancer. Meanwhile, million of Americans don't have the same option. They got a house mortgage to pay, family to take care of..
- yummyfajitas 16y ago
  "The suburban landscape in which I choose live in," "Meanwhile, million of Americans chose to eliminate that option. They got a house mortgage to pay, family to take care of.." Fixed that for you. The only people who have no choice in this matter are the children forced to live in the suburbs, trapped by distance in their parents house, being taught terrible lifestyle habits from a young age.
- pedrokost 16y ago
  I don't want to sound rude, but I think that you are just pushing exercise for some day in the future that may never arrive. I don't bike to school either, I use public transportation, however I regularly exercise. Believe me, there is time. It takes only 20 minutes every two days to stay fit and healthy. I am sure you can find the time to do it. Just reduce the amount of time you read HN or Reddit or sth. If you need motivation to start, you can begin by following a program like http://www.100pushups.info/ http://www.100pushups.info/ to get started. Break free of being lazy.
  - kiba 16y ago
    Motivation is far easier said than done. If it was so easy, than everybody would be doing it. The market for wacky exercise machine, trainer, gyms, etc, are huge. Yet, we're seeing lot more fat people. Maybe people aren't doing the whole motivation right. Lazy? Well, some of them are. A lot of people waste their time and procrastinate. A lot of people waste their money. A lot of people find it difficult to self-educate themselves. Clearly, we're living in a world where human beings are not optimizing toward their best. I am still trying to figure this out.
getpost 16y ago
It's true that obesity is a growing problem, and it is likely also true that nearly all cases of type II diabetes can be prevented with dietary changes. But, the article repeats the 'reduce saturated fat' meme, which lately has been called into question. Gary Taubes http://higher-thought.net/complete-notes-to-good-calories-bad-calories/ http://higher-thought.net/complete-notes-to-good-calories-ba... Robert Lustig http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM Cynthia Kenyon http://donmatesz.blogspot.com/2009/12/how-insulin-controls-aging.html http://donmatesz.blogspot.com/2009/12/how-insulin-controls-a... Nutrition and Vision Research at Tufts (Allen Taylor) http://hnrc.tufts.edu/1192109687036/HNRCA-Page-hnrca2ws_1192109688533.html http://hnrc.tufts.edu/1192109687036/HNRCA-Page-hnrca2ws_1192... Kurt Harris http://www.paleonu.com/get-started http://www.paleonu.com/get-started Mike Eades http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/ http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/ Uffe Ravnskov, "fat and cholesterol are good for you" http://www.ravnskov.nu/cholesterol.htm http://www.ravnskov.nu/cholesterol.htm LivinLaVidaLowCarb http://www.thelivinlowcarbshow.com/shownotes/ http://www.thelivinlowcarbshow.com/shownotes/ Weston A Price http://www.westonaprice.org/dentistry/289-invisible-toothbrush.html http://www.westonaprice.org/dentistry/289-invisible-toothbru... William Davis http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/ http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/ etc.
- elptacek 16y ago
  Also, Marion Nestle: http://www.foodpolitics.com/ http://www.foodpolitics.com/
elptacek 16y ago
This article has a bad smell. One commenter said it best -- the author is confusing 'risk factor' with 'cause'.
- Derbasti 16y ago
  Which is less bad, but still bad and doesn't change the fact that obesiety is a major problem that is growing rapidly.
  - elptacek 16y ago
    Curiously, problems aren't solved with weak methods of inquiry. They're also not solved by pointing at them, jumping up and down, saying, "THIS IS A PROBLEM! SOMEBODY FIX IT!" There's this thing our parents said to us, "Whenever you point a finger, there's three pointing back at you." I guess they had a point, after all. Yes, there are FAT people. Yes, there are MORE fat people than there used to be. There are also more alcoholics, drug addicts, poorly educated children and incidents of road rage. These problems have more in common than not. And one thing they have in common is that people write articles about them using words like, "Scared yet?" Useless tripe. (eta: no pun intended)
jimrandomh 16y ago
Here is the actual study (3 links deep): http://www.unitedhealthgroup.com/hrm/UNH_WorkingPaper5.pdf http://www.unitedhealthgroup.com/hrm/UNH_WorkingPaper5.pdf . Take a look at page 8, the one that contains this prediction. It was made by taking the rates of diabetes and pre-diabetes in 2007 and in 2010 (37.0% and 39.9% respectively), and drawing a line through them to get 51.9. That includes a 26.3% (2007) and 28.4% (2010) rate of "pre-diabetes", which really just means a HbA1c test that was higher than average. But between 2007 and 2010, the diagnostic test for pre-diabetes, the HbA1c, got much cheaper and became part of routine screenings where it wasn't before, so the slight uptick observed may actually be an artifact of increased testing, and it is definitely not part of a trend that can be linearly extrapolated ten years out.

12 points by kkleiner 16y ago

known 16y ago

Take 1000 mg Metformin twice a day. Walk 30 minutes every day. You'll be fine.

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

miles 16y ago

Two highly-recommended resources for those struggling with diabetes: http://www.rawfor30days.com/ http://www.rawfor30days.com/ http://www.drfuhrman.com/ http://www.drfuhrman.com/

Derbasti 16y ago

Is this limited tomthe US or is this a global phenomenon? I would guess that all developed countries suffer from these issues to some degree, but the homeland of fast food and food franchises is probably world champion. Nevertheless, you can't really blame McDonalds--People choose what they do and eat. Choose poorly, die young. But how can you argue for actual cooking with fresh ingredients in a society that does not value these activities? How can you make people see that fresh food actually tastes better and literally makes you a more happy person? How can you show people that light workout can do more to enhance your life than any drug or TV show ever will?

Joeri 16y ago
What I don't get is why mcdonalds, with all their clout, doesn't make value meals that are good for your health at the same time. People are lazy, so if you allow them to be lazy and eat healthy food at the same time, there must be a goldmine of potential revenue there. McDonalds could create a market for healthy fast food and dominate it for decades to come, but they just sit there like couch potatoes. Typical innovator's dilemma I suppose.
- waterlesscloud 16y ago
  McDonald's has tried to do this, over and over again. People make the choice for the bad food over the healthy food, even when McDonald's offers both.
- Derbasti 16y ago
  Fat, salt and sugar make stuff taste 'good' because these were rare resources when humanity was young. This is the simple recipy of McDonalds and it is true for all food, including healthy stuff. If McDonalds were to use less fat and sugar they would have to use more delicate and more expensive ingredients to keep it yummie. Sadly, many people care more for simple and cheap (i.e. fat and sugar) than delicate and healthy (i.e. unprocessed food). Even though every doctor, cook and common sense would advise otherwise.

yummyfajitas 16y ago

This article also links to the following article on "Blue Zones", which is also very interesting: http://singularityhub.com/2009/07/20/blue-zones-places-in-the-world-where-people-live-to-100-and-stay-healthy/ http://singularityhub.com/2009/07/20/blue-zones-places-in-th...

anamax 16y ago

What fraction of "pre-diabetics" develop diabetes? Note that people who live a long time actually consume more health care than folks who don't. Yes, even if the oldsters are "healthy" because they get more expensive and they keep consuming. Black men in the US are pretty close to ideal from the public perspective. Their biggest contribution is that they die right around retirement, so they never see a dime of what they paid for govt retirement programs. However, not only do they pay the taxes that the rest of us pay (SSI and medicare), they also pay a disproportionate share of "lifestyle" taxes. Yes, dying from lung cancer at 65 is cheaper from the public health perspective than living to 95.

kiba 16y ago

Do you know how difficult and motivate oneself to an exercise routine, much less change diet to a healthy and more expensive one? Yes, it's the individual's fault that he didn't do much about it. However, we must also recognize the obstacles that made it difficult for individuals to do something about it. I drive to school. I don't ride bikes or walk to school. The road aren't bike friendly. The suburban landscape in which I live in, doesn't have sidewalks to anywhere. There are sidewalks, and there's the uncomfortable feeling of walking too close to traffics. Whose fault is to promote and subsidize the car industry at the expense of human health and everything else? Someday, I will move to a town where I can walk and ride bikes to my heart's content. Until then, I am focusing on becoming a viable programming freelancer. Meanwhile, million of Americans don't have the same option. They got a house mortgage to pay, family to take care of..

yummyfajitas 16y ago
"The suburban landscape in which I choose live in," "Meanwhile, million of Americans chose to eliminate that option. They got a house mortgage to pay, family to take care of.." Fixed that for you. The only people who have no choice in this matter are the children forced to live in the suburbs, trapped by distance in their parents house, being taught terrible lifestyle habits from a young age.
pedrokost 16y ago
I don't want to sound rude, but I think that you are just pushing exercise for some day in the future that may never arrive. I don't bike to school either, I use public transportation, however I regularly exercise. Believe me, there is time. It takes only 20 minutes every two days to stay fit and healthy. I am sure you can find the time to do it. Just reduce the amount of time you read HN or Reddit or sth. If you need motivation to start, you can begin by following a program like http://www.100pushups.info/ http://www.100pushups.info/ to get started. Break free of being lazy.
- kiba 16y ago
  Motivation is far easier said than done. If it was so easy, than everybody would be doing it. The market for wacky exercise machine, trainer, gyms, etc, are huge. Yet, we're seeing lot more fat people. Maybe people aren't doing the whole motivation right. Lazy? Well, some of them are. A lot of people waste their time and procrastinate. A lot of people waste their money. A lot of people find it difficult to self-educate themselves. Clearly, we're living in a world where human beings are not optimizing toward their best. I am still trying to figure this out.

getpost 16y ago

It's true that obesity is a growing problem, and it is likely also true that nearly all cases of type II diabetes can be prevented with dietary changes. But, the article repeats the 'reduce saturated fat' meme, which lately has been called into question. Gary Taubes http://higher-thought.net/complete-notes-to-good-calories-bad-calories/ http://higher-thought.net/complete-notes-to-good-calories-ba... Robert Lustig http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM Cynthia Kenyon http://donmatesz.blogspot.com/2009/12/how-insulin-controls-aging.html http://donmatesz.blogspot.com/2009/12/how-insulin-controls-a... Nutrition and Vision Research at Tufts (Allen Taylor) http://hnrc.tufts.edu/1192109687036/HNRCA-Page-hnrca2ws_1192109688533.html http://hnrc.tufts.edu/1192109687036/HNRCA-Page-hnrca2ws_1192... Kurt Harris http://www.paleonu.com/get-started http://www.paleonu.com/get-started Mike Eades http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/ http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/ Uffe Ravnskov, "fat and cholesterol are good for you" http://www.ravnskov.nu/cholesterol.htm http://www.ravnskov.nu/cholesterol.htm LivinLaVidaLowCarb http://www.thelivinlowcarbshow.com/shownotes/ http://www.thelivinlowcarbshow.com/shownotes/ Weston A Price http://www.westonaprice.org/dentistry/289-invisible-toothbrush.html http://www.westonaprice.org/dentistry/289-invisible-toothbru... William Davis http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/ http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/ etc.

elptacek 16y ago
Also, Marion Nestle: http://www.foodpolitics.com/ http://www.foodpolitics.com/

elptacek 16y ago

This article has a bad smell. One commenter said it best -- the author is confusing 'risk factor' with 'cause'.

Derbasti 16y ago
Which is less bad, but still bad and doesn't change the fact that obesiety is a major problem that is growing rapidly.
- elptacek 16y ago
  Curiously, problems aren't solved with weak methods of inquiry. They're also not solved by pointing at them, jumping up and down, saying, "THIS IS A PROBLEM! SOMEBODY FIX IT!" There's this thing our parents said to us, "Whenever you point a finger, there's three pointing back at you." I guess they had a point, after all. Yes, there are FAT people. Yes, there are MORE fat people than there used to be. There are also more alcoholics, drug addicts, poorly educated children and incidents of road rage. These problems have more in common than not. And one thing they have in common is that people write articles about them using words like, "Scared yet?" Useless tripe. (eta: no pun intended)

jimrandomh 16y ago

Here is the actual study (3 links deep): http://www.unitedhealthgroup.com/hrm/UNH_WorkingPaper5.pdf http://www.unitedhealthgroup.com/hrm/UNH_WorkingPaper5.pdf . Take a look at page 8, the one that contains this prediction. It was made by taking the rates of diabetes and pre-diabetes in 2007 and in 2010 (37.0% and 39.9% respectively), and drawing a line through them to get 51.9. That includes a 26.3% (2007) and 28.4% (2010) rate of "pre-diabetes", which really just means a HbA1c test that was higher than average. But between 2007 and 2010, the diagnostic test for pre-diabetes, the HbA1c, got much cheaper and became part of routine screenings where it wasn't before, so the slight uptick observed may actually be an artifact of increased testing, and it is definitely not part of a trend that can be linearly extrapolated ten years out.