You At Your Best

By KimBerly marquez NWa Democrat-Gazette Statistics According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health: Hispanic Adults are 1.7 times more likely than non-Hispanic white adults to have been diagnosed with diabetes by a physician. In 2010, Hispanics were three times more likely to start treatment for end-stage renal disease related to diabetes, as compared to non-Hispanics whites. In 2010, Hispanic women were 1.5 times as likely as non-Hispanic white women to die from diabetes. Diagnosed cases of Diabetes Percentages of persons 18 years and over with diabetes, 2014 Hispanic/Latinos: 12.2 Non-Hispanic white: 7.3 Prevalence Rate Age-adjusted percentage of diagnosed diabetes per 100 population, 2014 Hispanics/Latinos/Women: 8.4 Hispanics/Latinos/Men: 9.1 White/Women: 5.3 White/Men: 6.3 Source: U.S Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health Diabetes and Latinos By KareN rice NWa Democrat-Gazette Diabetes is a chronic disease that prevents your body from properly storing and using glucose, the energy found in food. Insulin, produced in your pancreas, helps your cells use glucose to fuel your body. If you have diabetes, your body either doesn't make enough insulin, and/or doesn't use insulin well, and too much glucose stays in the blood. Over time, this causes serious health problems for your heart, kidneys, vision and nerves. The three main types of diabetes - Type 1 diabetes, which accounts for 5% of all diabetes diagnoses, occurs when the body produces little or no insulin. It is sometimes called juvenile diabetes because it is usually diagnosed in children, teens and young adults. If you have type 1 diabetes, you need to take insulin every day to survive. There is currently no cure or prevention for type 1 diabetes. - Type 2 diabetes occurs when your body doesn't use insulin well, and accounts for 90% of all diabetes diagnoses. Unlike type 1, it can develop over many years and there are ways to prevent or slow the effects with healthy lifestyle changes. - Gestational diabetes develops in pregnant women and usually goes away after the baby is born, but increases the risk for both mother and child of getting type 2 diabetes later in life. Prediabetes, the precursor In the U.S., 84.1 million adults—more than 1 in 3— have prediabetes, and 90% of them don't know it. If your blood sugar is higher than normal but not high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes, you are prediabetic. Without a change to your diet or exercise habits, you could find yourself with type 2 diabetes within a decade. The good news is that prediabetes doesn't have to develop into type 2 diabetes. Practical lifestyle changes including diet and exercise can cut your risk. What is diabetes? SATURDAY, OcTObeR 27, 2018 | NOvembeR - DiAbeTeS NwADg.cOm/YOUATYOURbeST | YOU AT YOUR beST | 5

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