Prevention and Intervention Programs for Diabetes - Essay Example

An average of 210,000 youth under the age of 20 has also been diagnosed with diabetes and 1.9 million people over the age of 20 were diagnosed with diabetes. The consensus also shows that 35% of US adults over the age of 20 had pre-diabetes with estimates of 79 million adults over the age of 20 have pre-diabetes. The numbers that are associated with this disease are continuing to prevail as a general problem in the United States with growing numbers because of lifestyle habits, dietary considerations, exercise and other relations to imbalances among blood sugar levels.

These numbers are seen in graph 1. It is known that this disease is one of the leading reasons for kidney failure, amputations, blindness, heart disease and stroke in the United States and is currently the seventh leading cause of death in the US (NIH, 2012). A large number of individuals that suffer from diabetes is further indicated by the expectations of receiving assistance with the particular problem. It is noted that the main problem with diabetes is uncertain and occurs because of the imbalance of sugar levels in the body.

However, the reason why this occurs is one which is creating a variety of implications toward the problem. If one changes their lifestyle, dietary habits and approach toward health, then it works to prevent or stop diabetes. There are many that have focused on changing these aspects alone to reduce or stop diabetes and the complexities which come with this problem. The problem with diabetes is one which many physicians state may have a direct link to other health problems, such as obesity or poor lifestyle habits.

By changing this alone, many have the opportunity to slow down or reverse the problem with diabetes. This is combined with examining smaller changes in medicine or alternative therapies that prevent the onslaught of diabetes and the complexities which occur as a result of this (Danaei et al, 2009).