Approximately 537 million adults (20-79 years) in the world are living with diabetes.
541 million adults have impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), which places them at high risk of type 2 diabetes (prediabetes).
The total number of people living with diabetes is projected to rise:
↑ 643 million by 2030
↑ 783 million by 2045
3 in 4 adults with diabetes live in low- and middle-income countries.
Almost 1 in 2 (240 million) adults living with diabetes are undiagnosed.
Diabetes caused 6.7 million deaths all over the world in 2021 – 1 death every 5 seconds.
Diabetes caused at least USD 966 billion dollars in health expenditure – 9% of total spending on adults.
More than 1.2 million children and adolescents (0-19 years) are living with type 1 diabetes.
1 in 6 live births (21 million) are affected by diabetes during pregnancy.
Diabetes can be treated and its consequences avoided or delayed with diet, physical activity, medication and regular screening and treatment for complications.
A healthy diet, regular physical activity, maintaining a normal body weight and avoiding tobacco use are ways to prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes.
Prediabetes is usually silent (meaning it has no signs or symptoms) and can go unnoticed for a long time. As such, it is essential that you undergo routine exams, especially if you have risk factors (overweight, a sedentary lifestyle, family history of Type 2 diabetes, among others).
A diet full of soda, sugary and processed foods not only increases the risk of type 2 diabetes, but also obesity and heart disease. But eating too much sugar is not the main cause of diabetes. Type 2 diabetes, for example, occurs when your body doesn’t respond to the amount of insulin it produces. On the other hand, sugar does not cause type 1 diabetes.
High sugar helps bacteria (plaque) build up on teeth; Diabetes can damage the nerve that controls the way food moves through your stomach and intestines; High blood sugar levels cause the body to lose fluid and lead to infections, itching and dryness; Diabetes can damage the tiny blood vessels inside the retina and lead to partial or total vision loss.
This happens regardless of whether we have diabetes or not. In addition to the hormonal effect of stress, we know that it is difficult to maintain our best behavior under these conditions. The truth is that when we are stressed, the urge to eat things we shouldn’t is greater!
If you’ve never had diabetes before, you can still develop gestational diabetes during your pregnancy. Even though your pancreas is working overtime to produce insulin, it may not be enough. And it doesn’t mean your baby will have diabetes.
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3. New York State. Department of Health. Prediabetes. Available at: https://www.peacehealth.org/healthy-you/five-surprising-facts-about-diabetes-0. Accessed October 2022.
4. Cleveland Clinic. Prediabetes. Available at https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/21498-prediabetes. Accessed October 2022.
5. Tabak AG et al. Lancet 2012; 379(9833): 2279-90.
6. World Health Organization. Diabetes – Key facts. Available at: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/diabetes. Accessed October 2022.
7. PeaceHealth. Available at: https://www.peacehealth.org/healthy-you/five-surprising-facts-about-diabetes-0. Accessed October 2022.
8. Northwestern Medicine. Available at: https://www.nm.org/healthbeat/healthy-tips/5-surprising-facts-about-diabetes. Accessed October 2022.
9. Endocrineweb.com. Available at: http://www.endocrineweb.com/polycystic-ovary-syndrome-pcos/link-between-pcos-diabetes. Accessed October 2022.
