How Serious Is American Diabetes?

Not long ago, an independent filmmaker named Morgan Spurlock made a film that shocked America. It’s name, Super Size Me. In this film, Mr. Spurlock submitted himself to a diet composed only of food sold by McDonald’s. And, every time someone asked him if he wanted to super size his meal, he had to accept it.

In the film we watch how his body is affected and a series of interviews around the US. One of the most shocking ones is of a diabetic man who still ingested junk food and didn’t do any exercise, even though he was at the risk of death. Unfortunately, that isn’t an isolated case. Almost 18 million people in the US suffer from diabetes. And, what is worse, 3 million don’t even know they have it.

Reasons of American Diabetes

American diet isn’t something to be proud of. Although diabetes is considered a genetic disease, the probabilities of acquiring it increase as the individual increases its weight. The sad thing is that Americans don’t fight this weight gain. As a matter of fact, the average American doesn’t even exercise the recommended minimum. Sedentary life and
Eating too much are the reasons why diabetes is soaring in developed countries.

Consequences of American Diabetes

In the year 2002, the cost of American diabetes to the US economy was of $132 billion. This is divided into: $91.8 billion for direct medical expenditures, $23.2 billion for diabetes care, $24.6 billion for complications caused by diabetes and, finally, $44.1 billion for medical conditions related to diabetes. Half of the direct medical expenditures, approximately $50 billion, were for people with an age of 65, or more.

As it can be seen, American diabetes is a huge problem in the US. In the 2002 it was the sixth leading cause of death in America. And this is taking its toll to the country’s health system. In case a cure is found, as much as $6 trillion can be saved in the following 30 years. But if it isn’t found, alternatives should be looked for.

For example, patients must be educated. They only need to make some exercise and change their diet. These two small factors could help reduce the huge amounts of money that the American government has to invest in its population health. Although there is a national movement for eating better, it may take some years until we see the results.

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