For 86 years, the American Diabetes Association has advocated for the advancement of knowledge, treatment, care, prevention and, ultimately, a cure for diabetes. Diabetes is the number-one health issue facing the participant members of the EWTF, and for many of our members, the diabetes they struggle with is preventable and possibly reversible with diet, exercise, and the guidance of expert health care providers, such as those in our United Healthcare network.
November is American Diabetes Month and there is no better time than now to wipe out diabetes.
- Diabetes causes your blood glucose (blood sugar) level to rise too high (hyperglycemia). Insulin, which is made by the body, moves glucose from the blood to cells to be used for fuel right away or stored for later.
- Around 1.5 million Americans are newly diagnosed with diabetes each year.
- When you have diabetes, your body doesn’t make insulin, can’t use the insulin it makes, or both.
- About 40.1 million Americans have diabetes—about 29.1 diagnosed, and about 11 million undiagnosed. About 115.2 million U.S. adults have prediabetes.
- Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease where your immune system mistakes the cells that make insulin as invasive and destroys them. Type 1 diabetes affects about 2 million Americans—1.8 million adults and over 300,000 children.
- Gestational diabetes develops in women during pregnancy and typically reverses after giving birth.
- Type 2 diabetes, known as insulin resistance diabetes, is the most common form of diabetes and managed by lifestyle changes and medication as needed. Type 2 accounts for about 95% of all cases of adult diabetes in the U.S.