Diabetes News You Need Now

Federal health officials now say that 26 million Americans have diabetes, up from 23.6 million in 2008, and 79 million U.S. adults have prediabetes, higher-than-normal blood-sugar levels that are a precursor to Type 2 diabetes.

Also, the Southeastern part of the country was just dubbed the “diabetes belt” by government researchers who found 12 percent of the people living there had the chronic blood-sugar disease, compared with 8.5 percent in the rest of the country.

What’s more, people with diabetes, which can lead to kidney failure, blindness, and amputations, die six years sooner than people who don’t have it, according to an analysis of nearly 100 studies done in Europe and North America.

You don’t have to become part of these growing numbers. Here is what you need to know now to cut your risk of getting diabetes.

1. Cut salt

Earlier this year, health officials advised people with diabetes, as well as those with chronic kidney disease, African Americans, and everyone 51 and older to reduce their daily sodium intake to 1,500 milligrams, or a little more than half a teaspoon. These groups are most at risk of having hypertension, which can lead to heart attack, stroke, and other serious medical problems, and excess sodium elevates that risk.

To break your salt habit, use herbs and spices to season food, read nutrition labels for sodium content, and eat more fresh and fewer packaged foods.

2. Walk off risk

In an Australian study, 592 middle-aged adults wore pedometers to measure their steps over a five-year period. Researchers found that participants who had a higher daily step count in 2005 than in 2000 had a lower body-mass index and greater insulin sensitivity. Based on this finding, researchers wrote in January in the British Medical Journal, a sedentary person who works to change his behavior over five years and meet the recommended 10,000-step-a-day (five miles) guideline would improve his insulin sensitivity threefold compared with an inactive person who increased their steps to 3,000 a day five days a week.

3. Snack on almonds

A study published late last year in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition found that people with prediabetes who ate a diet rich in almonds had lower levels of “bad” LDL cholesterol and increased insulin sensitivity. Participants told to get 20 percent of their daily caloric intake from almonds — about 2 ounces a day — showed the biggest improvements, compared to another group that didn’t eat nuts.

4. Go Mediterranean

Adopting the Mediterranean diet, which is high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, olive oil, poultry, and fish, may help you reverse or prevent metabolic syndrome, a group of risk factors for diabetes and heart disease. That’s according to a recent review of 35 studies that found that the diet improves high blood pressure, belly fat, high levels of blood fats (triglycerides) and blood sugar, low levels of “good” HDL cholesterol, and the other heart-hazardous traits that make up metabolic syndrome, according to Reuters Health.