New York Times articles on diabetes

Apologies for posting this late, but you should read these articles published by the New York Times last week on diabetes. Some of the facts highlighted in these articles are really disturbing.

Here are the links to the articles:

• Diabetes and Its Awful Toll Quietly Emerge as a Crisis
• By the Numbers: One Scourge in Two Forms
• Living at an Epicenter of Diabetes, Defiance and Despair
• In the Treatment of Diabetes, Success Often Does Not Pay
• East Meets West, Adding Pounds and Peril

Note that you need to register (registration is free) and that the articles are long. Still I urge you to read them. Some shocking points from the articles:

• Diabetes is growing quickly, even more than heart disease and cancer
• Nearly 21 million Americans are diabetic and 41 million are prediabetic
• The cost of diabetes in 2002 in the U.S was $132 billion, while that of cancer (all types put together) is $171 billion a year
• Every 24 hours, 4100 people are diagnosed with diabetes
• 30% of the adult americans are obese
• The junk food industry spends $10 billion a year in marketing to children

Perhaps these two comments (from the articles) summarize the diabetes situation precisely

“Either we fall apart or we stop this”- Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

“The work force 50 years from now is going to look fat, one-legged, blind, a diminution of able-bodied workers at every level” – Dr. Daniel Lorber, an endocrinologist in Queens

via Medical News Today