According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a quarter of those in United States living with diabetes do not know they have it.
An estimated 29.1 million people (9.3%) in the US have diabetes, but roughly 8.1 million of them (27.8%) haven’t been diagnosed. This information, along with a number of other new diabetes statistics, is featured in the CDC’s 2014 National Diabetes Statistics Report, which is based on data from 2012.
The report also found that the diabetes rate for Hispanics (12.8%), non-Hispanic blacks (13.2%), and Native Americans/Alaska Natives (15.9%) were markedly higher than the 7.6% rate of non-Hispanic whites. The diabetes rate among Asians was 9%.
Type II Diabetes, or the type of Diabetes that's acquired by habits and lifestyle choices, is largely correlated with the obesity epidemic that's been taking over the United States for the past 30 years. According to NHANES, almost 70% of Americans are considered to be overweight or obese, as of 2014 - and almost 34% of children are considered to fall within the same category. In 2013, the CDC had to come up with a new category of obesity to accommodate the number of children who were so far off the chart for age and sex-related BMI statistics, that they had to create a "Severely Obese" category, in which children fall within 120 - 160% of the 95th percentile for weight in children their age and height.
The obesity epidemic is REAL, and it's costing more lives than we realize. In 2015, life expectancy decreased for the first time in almost 40 years, and obesity plays a HUGE role in that.
Being healthy is a lifestyle choice - one YOU can make for a better future for you and your children!