Over the last decade, Type 2 diabetes has been a growing concern for many countries. Places like the U.S., U.K, and China have seen increasing rates of T2 diagnosis, and government health agencies and global health organizations have been rushing to implement programs that will help turn these numbers around. And recently, a study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States, welcomed some good news from the Type 2 trenches.
For the first time in two decades, the U.S. has seen a leveling off of adults diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, with the average number of new cases from 2008 – 2012 decreasing about 5.4%. The data, which was collected through the National Health Interview Study, polled 665,000 adults aged 20 to 79. This study is designed to track how well the country is succeeding in their health initiatives, and the initial data is looking pretty good.
The U.S. has turned a strong eye over the last 5-10 years to making healthy lifestyle changes, and passed legislation to increase transparency at restaurants and fast food joints, including listing calorie and nutritional information on menus. It’s possible that small changes like these have helped Americans make healthier decisions.
According to researchers from the CDC, the data also suggests that more positive lifestyle changes have improved death rates from Type 2 diabetes. “People with diabetes are living longer and living healthier” stated Dr. Robert Ratner, the chief scientific and medical officer for the American Diabetes Association.
It’s still too early to tell if this is going to be a long-term decline in new T2 cases, but it’s a bit of positive news for the diabetes community. If not a strong downwards trend, there’s definitely evidence that the rapid increase of Type 2 diabetes of the last few decades is starting to slow down. By sharing more of our stories from the Type 2 community and continuing to educate others on how to decrease Type 2 risks and live healthy lives with diabetes, we can continue to have a positive impact.