Almost 10 percent of the American population has been diagnosed with diabetes—that’s about 29.1 million people—and the rate of type 2 diabetes diagnoses is skyrocketing. Despite its prevalence, many people are still uninformed about their risk of developing type 2 diabetes or do not realize the dangers of not properly controlling the condition.
Type 2 diabetes, which affects 95 percent of diabetics, occurs when the body does not produce insulin enough or does not properly use the insulin being produced. Insulin is critical to the body’s ability to control blood sugar levels. Over time, high blood sugar can hurt your eyes, kidneys, nerves or heart and put you at risk for many serious health problems – including high blood pressure, kidney disease, stroke and neuropathy.
Individuals most at risk of developing type 2 diabetes are overweight, do not eat a healthy, balanced diet and are not physically active. Maintaining a healthy weight, eating right and regular physical activity are not only key to lowering your risk of developing the disease, but also to keeping the disease from progressing.
Find out what's happening in McLeanwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
If diet and lifestyle changes are not enough, people with type 2 diabetes can use a variety of medications to help manage their blood sugar. In addition to oral medications and injectable insulin, an inhalable insulin therapy has recently been released on the market.
While new drugs can make it easier to control diabetes, the best way to manage the disease is to focus on prevention. Contact Principal Medical Group to find out if you are at risk for diabetes and discuss ways to best address that risk.
