Obesity, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, and type 2 diabetes have reached epidemic proportions. Each person reading this article could be affected by these conditions, either directly or indirectly. However, as ubiquitous as the “diabesity» and its related diseases, few people understand how closely they are connected to each other.
It is now clear that these conditions not only share the same underlying causes and therefore require the same treatment, but are also 100 percent preventable and, in many cases, completely reversible.
What you should know about diabesity
Because of these similarities, many professionals have adopted the term diabesity (diabetes + obesity) to describe them. Diabesity can be defined as a metabolic dysfunction ranging from mild blood sugar imbalances to full blown type 2 diabetes.
Diabesity is a constellation of signs that includes:
- Abdominal obesity (i.e. “spare tire” syndrome)
- Dyslipidemia (low HDL, high LDL, and high triglycerides)
- high blood pressure
- High blood sugar (fasting above 100 mg/dL, Hb1Ac above 5.5)
- systemic inflammation
- A tendency to form blood clots
Subjective symptoms of diabesity include (but are not limited to):
- Sugar cravings, especially after meals
- Eating sweets without relief from sugar cravings
- Fatigue after meals
- frequent urination
- Increased thirst and appetite
- Difficulty losing weight
- slow stomach emptying
- slow wound healing
- sexual dysfunction
- Visual problems
- Numbness and tingling in the extremities
The term diabesity is misleading in one respect: it suggests that one must be obese to experience the metabolic problems I have just described. That is not true. Thin people can suffer from the full spectrum of blood sugar imbalances, right up to type 2 diabetes. The term sometimes used for people who are thin but have insulin resistance, hyperglycemia, and dyslipidemia is “metabolic obesity.” In short, their metabolisms behave as if they are obese, even when physically they are not.
Diabesity is the number one cause of death in the US.
It is almost impossible to overstate how serious and far-reaching the problem of diabesity is:
More than 93 million Americans are obese.
More than 30 million Americans have diabetes.
More than 84 million American adults have prediabetes, which is characterized by slightly elevated blood glucose levels.
Worldwide, diabetes affects 451 million adults and more than 2.1 billion people are overweight or obese.
Diabesity is the main cause of modern chronic diseases. Diabetics are at increased risk of:
- heart disease
- Hypertension
- Cancer
- respiratory disorders
- Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease
- Renal insufficiency
- Blindness
- digestive disorders
Diabetes and cardiovascular diseases have now overtaken infectious diseases as the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide.
In Dr. Bernstein’s “The Diabetes Solution,” Dr. Richard Bernstein states that diabetes is now the third leading cause of death. But death certificates do not list diabetes or hyperglycemia as the underlying cause of fatal heart attacks, strokes or infections. They also do not consider the role of obesity, insulin resistance, and inflammation in these conditions. If they did, it is quite possible that the diabesity is not only the main cause of diseasebut also the main cause of death .
Children are also affected by the diabesity epidemic
Reports suggest that more than a third of people born in the US alone in the year 2000 will develop diabetes during their lifetime. What is particularly frightening about this statistic is that many of those who will develop diabetes will be children. Type 2 diabetes used to be a disease of the middle-aged and elderly, but those days are long gone:
- The prevalence of type 2 diabetes in children increased by 30% between 2000 and 2009 and continues to rise.
- The number of new cases of type 2 diabetes in children is expected to quadruple in the coming decades.
Every year, children gain more weight. Childhood obesity has more than tripled since the 1970s:
- Among American children ages two to five, nearly 14 percent are now obese.
- From ages six to 11, 18 percent of children are obese.
- 20 percent of adolescents ages 12 to 19 are obese.
The most alarming is rise in obesity in children under five. Research shows that early childhood obesity rates have doubled since 1980. And it’s not because babies are eating more donuts and cheese doodles while cutting back on their exercise.
Why we need to change our behaviors and lifestyles
From 1993 to 2017, the number of people with diabetes in the world increased 12-fold, from 35 million to 450 million, and is expected to rise to 690 million by 2045. This is about 18 times the number of people affected by HIV /AIDS around the world. In the United States, the incidence of diabetes is projected to increase to 60 million by the year 2060.
What explains such an explosion of new cases? One reason is that the standard treatment for diabesity is not only ineffective, but also contributes to the problem.
Once developed, diabetes and obesity are characterized by insulin resistance, which in turn results in carbohydrate intolerance. However, prominent organizations such as the American Diabetes Association have recommended a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet as a treatment for diabetes for decades.
It didn’t work in 1985, and it still doesn’t work today. Einstein once defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Clearly, we need to shift our thinking away from the conventional approach, challenge our current beliefs, and embrace more unconventional options, such as:
- Gut health optimization
- Adopt a paleo diet
- Try high-intensity intermittent training (HIIT)