The diabetes epidemic just gets worse

Before you pick up that doughnut, some facts:
Some 24 million Americans have diabetes, and 57 million more are heading toward it.
About one-fourth of those with diabetes don’t know they have it.
Treating each diabetes patient costs about $6,649 each year. That’s $116 billion.
Total health spending last year came to about $7,439 per person, or $2.26 trillion.

Sort of puts that picture of Homer Simpson and his doughnut in a whole new light, doesn’t it?

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Diabetes Cases Increase 15 Percent in 2 Years

By BLOOMBERG NEWS
Published: June 25, 2008
The number of Americans with diabetes increased by 15 percent in two years to 24 million, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 8 percent of the population now has the disease, mainly Type 2 diabetes, which is linked to obesity and sedentary living, the agency said in a report using data from 2007. A quarter of people ages 60 and older had diabetes, the agency said. The number of people worldwide with diabetes will double to 366 million by 2030, according to the World Health Organization, which calls the disease an epidemic. Most people with diabetes have resistance to insulin, which the body uses to convert blood sugar to energy. The C.D.C. report was its first update of the prevalence of diabetes since 2005, when it reported that about 21 million Americans had the disease.