How big is the diabetes type 2 problem?

Abstract

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently claimed that more than 1 in 3 American adults have blood sugar levels that are too high. They included prediabetics in their statement. In 2016, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), reported that 55% of Californian adults are either prediabetic or have undiagnosed type 2 diabetes (Figure 1). Prediabetes is not a nit-picking philosophical concept. Diabetic pathologies develop during prediabetes and, by the time type 2 diabetes manifests itself, patients may already have kidney impairment, vision loss, neuropathy, atherosclerosis and cancer. Excessive food and drink intake, particularly the high glycaemic ones, spike blood sugar levels which also accelerate ageing by shortening telomeres. The goalposts for safe blood glucose levels have been changing. Levels considered dangerous now were thought to be safe decades ago. Current recommendation is for blood sugar to be kept at the low end of the normal reference range. However, a significant section of the medical community may have failed to wake up to the life-shortening impact of prediabetes.