Diabetes - it's an epidemic

February 8, 2006 7:42 PM

The bad news: "4,100 people diagnosed with diabetes, 230 amputations in people with diabetes, 120 people who enter end-stage kidney disease programs and 55 people who go blind. ..That's going to happen every day, on the weekends and on the Fourth of July. That's diabetes". The worse news: this is in New York City alone. The disease will soon afflict more than a million inhabitants of the city.
posted by storybored (23 comments total)

Avoid refined sugar. Avoid high fructose corn syrup, and corn syrup in general. Don't eat it. Don't drink soft drinks. You might as well smoke 4 packs a day. Exercise.

Seriously, they really should ban high fructose corn syrup, and a number of other sweeteners, along with trans-fat, hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated additives.

The soft drink and snack industries can go fuck themselves. Make some real food, already.

(Lost an awesome friend to diabetes, who lost a number of limbs before he went.)
posted by loquacious at 7:57 PM on February 8, 2006

There is no indication in the article that that statistic is only for New York City. This is not to say that I haven't wondered for years why so few people give diabetes any attention. My mother is a public health nurse, and spends several hours a day visiting people to ensure that they take their tuberculosis medications. I guess beacuse diabetes isn't communicable in the traditional sense. However, it is infectious. Our society's addiction to laziness and obesity is infectious, and it spreads diabetes quite effectively. Scary stuff.
posted by potch at 8:13 PM on February 8, 2006

In cantonese, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is referred to as "sugar distillate" or "essence of sugar." Nasty shait. Once I hit my 20's, I haven't been able to stand the stuff.

Tangentally, MSG is referred to as "essence of taste."

Holy crap! I was going to look for some articles on HFCS, the first (latest) one was a study testing the safety of adding that shait to cigarettes. ?!

Anyway, an interesting and recent article on how increased intake of HFCS is a major factor in Type 2 diabetes and other disorders.
posted by PurplePorpoise at 8:16 PM on February 8, 2006

Low carbohydrate diet. That is all.
posted by localroger at 8:28 PM on February 8, 2006

It's very interesting to me that high taxes on cigarettes are justified using arguments about the "public health" particularly in Canada, and yet eating horribly is not acted upon in any way.

Hell, if public health was the real issue, there would be a subsidy for my gym membership.
posted by aubin at 8:42 PM on February 8, 2006

aubin, Harper heard ya.
posted by jikel_morten at 8:49 PM on February 8, 2006

I think it's pretty clear in context that those are national numbers quoted from the CDC guy. Sorry, storybored. That's about 1.4 million people a year -- at that rate, all of New York would be diabetic by 2020.

The Bad Blood series was excellent, and sobering. This was just one article in the series, which was the result of a year's worth of research and interviews.
posted by dhartung at 8:58 PM on February 8, 2006

Though not technically accurate, I tend to think of diabetes as a symptom of obesity.

I'm sure you all will have plenty of "Well, but..."s for me...
posted by sourwookie at 9:42 PM on February 8, 2006

Survival of the fittest?
posted by j-urb at 9:50 PM on February 8, 2006

Sourwookie: I tend to think of diabetes and obseity as symptoms of the same lifestyle choices (Hate that term, but it's better than "Stupid things people do because they can't be bothered to take care of themselves".).

If you want to see something scary, check out the diabetes stats for Canada's aboriginal population.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 10:43 PM on February 8, 2006

There are two types of diabetes, and they're quite different in many ways. I assume you're all talking about Type 2...
posted by easternblot at 11:27 PM on February 8, 2006

4,100 people in NYC are diagnosed with diabetes every day? That's 1.4 million a year. the article says there are 800,000 living with adult diabetes in NYC today. Are you saying that within 10 years everyone's going to have it?

I'm not saying diabetes isn't a terrible thing, and way too prevalent. I'm just questioning the numbers in the synopsis.
posted by kfury at 12:53 AM on February 9, 2006

A few months ago I had an eye issue, went to the doctor and he said "HOLY CRAP", and sent me off to my regular doctor. Regular doctor said I was diabetic, going to the kidney specialist today. Praying dialysis isn't next.

How timely.
posted by damnitkage at 3:40 AM on February 9, 2006

What loquacious said.

Read it. Learn it. Live it.
posted by sic at 4:43 AM on February 9, 2006

Seriously, they really should ban high fructose corn syrup, and a number of other sweeteners, along with trans-fat, hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated additives.

How far do you want to go down this slope? How much should government intervene to keepus safe and healthy?


The soft drink and snack industries can go fuck themselves. Make some real food, already.

Real food is expensive in the short term, so that's not going to fly. Sure, it'll promote a healthier populace and less impact on the healthcare system but that's so many years down the road, that's some other guys problem.


Low carbohydrate diet.

That crap ain't gonna fly i.e. not many people, due to cultural factors, will change to such a diet. By the time people are diagnosed they're usually older and set in their ways, so the idea that they're going to radically change their diet, which has such a huge emotional and mental pat of their lives, isn't realistic, especially when most people do NOT get the long term conenctrated attention and help to change. At most, new diabetes seem to get a few classes on how they should eat and then sen forth in the world. And that's for people with decent healthcare benefits.

-- Type II diabetic, diagnosed four years.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:21 AM on February 9, 2006

Well Brandon I have radically changed my diet, and so far two of my coworkers who noticed the change in my health and asked what I did have radically changed theirs, too. I am pre-diabetic and not at all eager to follow my mother's example and let it become full-blown. And the improvement is so dramatic that after a few weeks it becomes quite easy to stare down the food that is off diet. Being able to eat all you want of meat, eggs, and cheese makes it pretty easy. I can easily see myself sticking to this diet, as Dr. Luntz recommends, for the rest of my life. And if I had known fifteen years ago what I know now, I'd have started on it back then.
posted by localroger at 5:52 AM on February 9, 2006

Well Brandon I have radically changed my diet, and so far two of my coworkers who noticed the change in my health and asked what I did have radically changed theirs

I'm glad to hear and I think that's great. But obviously I'm not speaking of every single person. I'm noting the reistance to these changes that i've seen among the diabetic classes I've taken. Part of that might be the location, the South, where unhealthy eating is god given right and way of life :)
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:05 AM on February 9, 2006

Kinda puts the damage done by 19 guys with boxcutters in perspective.

Add those killed and maimed by traffic accidents and we have justification for war and abdicating rights! :-)
posted by nofundy at 6:11 AM on February 9, 2006

jikel_morten: I'll believe it when I see it; not that I'm cynical about Harper, but somehow I don't think gym users are among his priorities.

Particularly since heavy gym use seems to be a city phenomenon and we didn't exactly make up his base.
posted by aubin at 7:15 AM on February 9, 2006

My bad. Potch, dhartung, kfury thanks for the correction. My eyeballs and brain went AWOL. Those numbers in the FPP are indeed national numbers not New York figures. How embarrassing.

The last sentence in the FPP should read:

"The news is that in New York alone, the disease will soon afflict more than one million inhabitants in the city"

Sorry for the goof-up.
posted by storybored at 7:59 AM on February 9, 2006

this is the result of fluoride in the water. i bathe in mineral water and will not even touch tap water - i had my water mains disconnected and only use large bottles that i have deliveried. it is much safer
posted by tranceformer at 8:27 AM on February 9, 2006

Type II diabetes isn't a problem that can be solved by banning or taxing certain substances, because the problem is overconsumption of *carbohydrates*, so unless you plan to ban wheat, fruit, and about half of what makes up a healthy diet, you can't really prevent people from eating themselves (and the American health care system) to death. Like so many of our problems, the only real solution to this one is personal responsibility. If only we could buy that in bulk at Walmart, we'd be okay.
posted by scottreynen at 10:37 AM on February 9, 2006

one simple rule:
if you eat candy enough to make your head hurt, you probably had too much.
posted by qvantamon at 3:31 PM on February 9, 2006