JACKSON, Miss.- November is National Diabetes month and health care professionals are bringing attention to the disease that effects over 29 million Americans.
In Mississippi alone, nearly 12 percent of the population, or roughly 360,000 people, suffer from Diabetes. This year, the National Diabetes Education Program is promoting management of the disease.
Mississippi is among the highest incidence or prevalence states,joined on that list by Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, The District of Columbia, and Virginia.
“Diabetes is a leading cause of kidney disease, kidney failure, vision loss, heart disease, and stroke,” said Dr. Griffin Rodgers, Director of the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases.”Making changes in how you care for your health is really a matter of trying and learning.”
Often managing the ABC’s of diabetes and keeping the following levels at a target number is the best way to get a handle on the disease.
- A stands for Hemoglobin A1C, which is a measure of how your blood sugar averages for the preceding three months.
- B stands for blood pressure
- C stands for your blood cholesterol
“We added an S to that because smoking adds such a stress on your blood vessels, but you should quit smoking even if you don’t have diabetes,” said Rodgers.
Research has shown that if you fall into the “pre-diabetes” category, or when your blood sugar levels are close to that of diabetes, just losing a small amount of body weight can greatly reduce the risk of getting diabetes.
Dr. Rodgers also recommends walking 30 minutes a day, a few days a week. He said small steps can often lead to great rewards.
