November is Diabetes Month

BY Carrie Swift, MS, RDN, BC-ADM, CDCES

November is American Diabetes Month – and November 14th is World Diabetes Day (WDD). WDD was launched in 1991 to raise global awareness about diabetes health risks.¹  WDD is recognized each year on the birthday of Sir Frederick Banting, who along with Charles Best, discovered insulin in 1922.

More than 37 million Americans have diabetes.² Diabetes occurs when blood glucose, also known as blood sugar, gets too high. Over time, high blood glucose leads to serious health problems.

The main types of diabetes are type 1, type 2, and gestational diabetes (diabetes during pregnancy). Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is the most common, representing 90 to 95% of all diabetes.² 

Prediabetes is a condition where blood glucose levels are higher than normal, but not yet high enough to be diagnosed as T2D. It is estimated that 96 million people in the United States have pre-diabetes.² 

Why should prediabetes be a concern?

Having prediabetes significantly increases the risk of T2D, heart disease, and stroke.
There are some risk factors that you can’t change, such as age, race or ethnicity, and family history of diabetes. However, there are still actions you can take to prevent T2D.  

Read the full article here.