Good God

[tikistitch]

Diabetes cases double in county

The numbers, released Monday in a study by Public Health -- Seattle & King County, show that 84,000 adults, or nearly 6 percent of the adult population of the county, were diagnosed with diabetes in 2006, compared with 2.8 percent in 1996. Even more are unaware they have the condition, health officials said.

The most common form of diabetes is Type 2 and can often be prevented by adopting a healthy diet and active lifestyle. But even Type 1 diabetes, for which there is no known prevention, is showing a dramatic increase here, according to health officials....

The study also shows racial, economic and neighborhood disparities in the number of people diagnosed countywide. For example, African Americans are 2.6 times more likely to be affected by diabetes than whites and have a death rate more than three times as high. Pacific Islanders, Asians and American Indians/Alaska Natives are also more likely to have diabetes. Southeast Seattle rates are more than four times the rate of more affluent Mercer Island.

This is a disaster. Risk for Diabetes Type 2 is associated with poverty, and because this country is so fucked up, poor people get crappy healthcare. Meaning, the diabetes goes uncontrolled, and people go blind, or have a leg amputated, or die. People who study health care disparities (like, say, tiki) really hate this stuff. This country is supposed to be about eliminating disparities, not letting them spiral out of control.

Thing is, diabetes isn't an easy fix--it's not like trooping all the school kids in for their measles shot. This is the dreaded Lifestyle Change, which means, yeah, exercising and watching your weight for the rest of your life. And you really wanna be the one who tells a busy working family, sorry, nor more Mickey D's? Swear to God, it's stuff like this that makes me wanna strangle Ronald McDonald. You hear that clown? We're on to you!!

Comments

[spazzygirl19.livejournal.com]

Sigh ... problem isn't just with sugar, but salt as well as all the 'additives' in processed food. The problem with the 'value meals', or stuff as they say in the commercials '...feed your family for only pennies a meal...' (like Hamburger Helper - bleargh!) -- is ALL bad stuff for cheap. To feed 'good' healthy food for cheap means you better have a good crop of greens in the backyard, along with maybe some animals you can eventually butcher. If you get, 'good' produce (i.e. organic or even not -- like at Whole Foods), better be prepared to pay more than pennies a meal!

Both Spazzygirl *and* her sister-in-law are willing to testify in front of Congress as to how much more it costs to 'eat healthy' rather than fast or processed foods. WILL Congress get a hint that if perhaps the U.S. population learned to eat better/healthier, we might have less health problems that would cause health insurance to go down?! As we say, "Duh..."