Diabetes a Major Risk for Heart Attack

Diabetes has reached epidemic proportions around the world,1 with China emerging as the “epicenter” of rising prevalence. Last year, data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed that more than one-third of all Americans are prediabetic, yet nine out of 10 of them don’t know they have it. At that time, more than 29 million Americans were diagnosed with full-blown type 2 diabetes — a statistic researchers predicted in 2001 wouldn’t be reached until 2050! All told, one-third of Americans (115 million) were either prediabetic or diabetic.

Now, research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association on September 8, 2015, suggests nearly HALF of all American adults had either diabetes or prediabetes in 2011 to 2012. The situation is similarly dire in the UK, where diabetes rates have soared 60 percent in the last decade, rising from 2.1 million in 2005 to 3.3 million in 2015 — a rise that threatens to bankrupt the British National Health Service (NHS).

Reported Diabetes Prevalence

According to the latest statistics, about 38 percent of US adults have prediabetes which, if left unaddressed, sets you squarely on the path of not just type 2 diabetes but many other chronic diseases as well, including heart disease. Another 12 to 14 percent have type 2 diabetes, which is associated with a number of health complications, including nerve damage (neuropathy), soft tissue infections, poor wound healing, and limb amputations.

In the UK, diabetes is responsible for 135 foot amputations each week. Diabetic women under the age of 45 also have a six-fold greater risk for heart attack, recent research shows. Meanwhile, high blood pressure carried a four-fold increased risk for heart attack, and smoking raised it by 1.6 times. Consider that for a moment... diabetes turns out to be a FAR more potent risk factor for heart attack than smoking!

Various Methods of Diabetes Testing

While a fasting glucose tolerance test used to be the standard test to determine whether you had diabetes in years past, today there are a number of newer tests available, the two easiest being:

·       A1C – Sometimes called the hemoglobin A1 c. For this test, there’s no need to fast. An international team on diabetes recommended the A1C in 2009 for diagnosing type 2 diabetes as well as prediabetes. The test measures protein in red blood cells and is reported as a percentage. The higher the percentage, the higher your blood glucose levels have been. A normal A1C level is below 5.7 percent. If you have A1C numbers of 6.5 or higher, you have diabetes. Prediabetes is the diagnosis if your A1C is between 5.7 and 6.4.

·       Fasting Plasma Glucose (FPG) – You must be fasting to take this test, meaning that other than water, you haven’t had anything to eat or drink for at least eight hours. Glucose levels are measured from blood samples and diabetes is diagnosed when your level is greater than or equal to 126 mg/dL. You have prediabetes if the levels are 101 to 125. Normal is 70 to 100.

If you would like to get your levels checked, please call our office for an appointment.

Source: Junk Food and Antibiotics Have Spawned a Global Diabetes Epidemic

September 23, 2015  Mercola.com

In Health, 

Dr. Niewierowski