SEPTEMBER 2024LIFE SCIENCES REVIEW 19ovember is diabetes awareness month; unfortunately the national data on this topic is distressing.In 2018, more than 34 million Americans (about one in ten Americans of all ages, including one in seven adults had diabetes, and 88 million American adults (approximately one in three) had prediabetes, a state of increased risk for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. More significant, many teenagers are developing what was once considered a disease of older people; 40 percent of young adults will be diagnosed with it at some point in their lives. If current trends continue, one in three Americans will develop diabetes in their lifetime. In the U.S., diabetes is a leading cause of blindness in adults, kidney failure and lower-limb amputations and is a significant contributor to death, including death from FOOD AS MEDICINE:A TREATMENTFOR DIABETESBy Dr. Jospeh Webb. D.Sc., FACHE, Chief Executive Officer, Nashville General HospitalCOVID-19. Individuals with poorly controlled diabetes have at least a two-fold greater risk of death from COVID-19. The Financial Cost Caring for diabetes is a significant financial burden. Nationally, the total cost of diabetes was $327 billion in 2017, including $237 billion in direct medical costs and $90 billion in reduced productivity. Medicare and Medicaid paid about 67 percent of diabetes costs. Caring for people diagnosed with diabetes accounts for one of every four healthcare dollars, making diabetes the costliest chronic condition in the U.S.Food as MedicineWhen we think of medicine to treat diabetes, we typically think of pills and insulin injections to improve glycemic control. However, science points to a new treatment for diabetes and other chronic conditions: food. nCXO INSIGHTS
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