Reducing Your Risk of Diabetes and Other Chronic Diseases.

What is chronic disease?

-A medical condition that develops gradually and persists for months or years. -Symptoms may be treated, but underlying causes cannot be prevented through vaccines or completely cured. -Common examples include cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, chronic lung diseases, osteoporosis, and arthritis. -Chances of developing it increase with age. -Three behaviors underlie 35% of all chronic disease deaths: smoking, eating poorly, and not exercising.

Risk of developing type 2 diabetes increases with:

-Age between 35 and 64. -High BMI (30 or above). -Physical inactivity. -A family history of type 2 diabetes. -Gestational diabetes during pregnancy. -Ethnic status. -A diagnosis of pre-diabetes.

What you can do to lower your risk:

-Eat a healthy, balanced diet -Exercise regularly. -Monitor risk factors. -Follow recommendations if you have symptoms of pre-diabetes.

Eat a healthy, balanced diet.

-Get 5-9 servings daily of fruits and vegetables. -Limit saturated fats, refined carbohydrates, and sugars.

Chronic disease risks you can control.

-Getting daily physical activity. -Eating more fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, whole grains, and heart-healthy fats. -Limiting dietary salt and sugar. -Maintaining recommended BMI. -Managing stress. -Avoiding tobacco and drug and alcohol abuse.

Many chronic diseases are interrelated.

-Having one increases likelihood of developing more. -Having one increases physical problems that could otherwise prevent further/other diseases. -Many diabetics, for example, eventually die of cardiovascular disease.

Most Americans will develop one or more chronic diseases.

-Nearly half of all women will develop osteoporosis. -Arthritis is the most common disabling disease. -1 in 2 men and 1 in 3 women will develop cancer.

Gestational diabetes

-Usually develops in women during pregnancy. -May disappear after childbirth; creates a higher risk of mothers developing type 2 diabetes.

Common diabetes symptoms:

-excessive thirst -frequent urination

Type 1 diabetes

An autoimmune disease that destroys the pancreas's ability to make insulin. It has a strong genetic basis and usually develops during childhood or adolescence.

Monitor risk factors

Be informed, consult a doctor, get a diagnosis, and followup.

Exercise regularly

Engage in moderate to vigorous activity on most days of the week.

Type 2 diabetes

The body may continue to produce insulin, but the body's cells are unable to utilize insulin properly. This results in elevated glucose levels in blood and urine, a condition known as hyperglycemia.

What is diabetes?

The inability to produce or use insulin (a pancreatic hormone needed to convert sugar and other substances into energy).