American Diabetes Month
Posted By: Bruce Daggy, Ph.D.
It’s American Diabetes Month and this marks the first anniversary of the American Diabetes Association’s Stop Diabetes movement. Nutrisystem-D is a proud national sponsor of the movement, which is closing in on its goal of one million members by the end of this year. Sadly, in the past year, about
1.5 million Americans were newly diagnosed with diabetes. It now affects 24 million people in this country, with more than twice that number showing early signs of the disease. If present trends continue, one in three children born today will develop diabetes in their lifetimes. Take the right steps now to keep that from happening.
The ADA is raising awareness and researching ever improving means to diagnose, prevent, and manage diabetes. The most common form of diabetes is type 2, what used to be called the adult onset form of the disease. There are a number of factors that put a person at risk of developing type 2 diabetes and the good news is some of these can be addressed by simple lifestyle changes. For example, being overweight or leading a sedentary lifestyle puts you at greater risk. If your doctor tells you that your blood sugar is a little high, that’s not a reason to panic, but nor is it a message to ignore for another year. If you are overweight, losing just a little bit of weight – a 200 pound person losing 10 pounds, for example – is enough to help reduce your risk of developing diabetes. If you get no regular physical activity, then going for a 30 minute walk after dinner most evenings is an important step – literally and figuratively – towards staying healthy. If you already have diabetes, the same advice applies. There is no doubt about it – multiple clinical studies have shown that lifestyle actions taken by the patient can greatly reduce the risk of developing diabetes or the complications of the disease. As an added bonus, these same lifestyle changes help maintain health in a number of other areas, from pregnancy outcomes to cancer. The steps taken to stop diabetes will pay us back in so many ways.
The future of diabetes is in all of our hands. I sincerely hope that you join the American Diabetes Association’s important movement to Stop Diabetes™. Go to www.stopdiabetes.com and take action today.
I heard that black and green tea might help prevent diabetes. I found research stating the following: “Black and green tea represent a potentially inexpensive, nontoxic, and, in fact, pleasurable [blood-sugar-lowering] agent,” the researchers write. “Tea may be a simple, inexpensive means of preventing or retarding human diabetes and the ensuing complications.”
Bruce, I am wondering if you have any more research on this topic?
It appears from your e-mail address that you are in the tea business; so, though a fan of tea, I’m not sure that I will be able to provide you with the answer that you seek. In my experience, many foods or ingredients where there is some evidence of usefulness lack proof. Tea is in this category. The quote you cite is drawn from a 2005 research study conducted in rats. Some more recent dietary recall studies have found an association between consumption of tea (or coffee, including decaf) and reduced risk of type 2 diabetes. Association does not prove that tea consumption delivered the benefit. Even assuming that the dietary intake information is accurate, drinking more tea could, for example, simply mean that one is consuming less of something harmful. For most people, tea is a healthy beverage choice – and a pleasant one as well, my English mother would add – but more work is needed to establish the benefits.
If you reach out to the nutritionists on staff at the American Diabetes Association, they might be able to provide additional insights on this topic. They have a newly launched blog that can be accessed from the American Diabetes Association’s home page at: http://www.diabetes.org.