May 01, 2006
Diabetes is epidemic! The numbersare truly alarming. In 1997, official datashowed that 16 million people in theUnited States had diabetes. Approximately1 million had type 1 disease,and 10.4 million had type 2 disease; theremainder had undiagnosed diabetes.1If these numbers are projected outagainst an annual increase in diseaseprevalence of about 3.5%, it means thatby the year 2028, 50 million people willhave diabetes. However, the actual rateis closer to 7% each year. As such, approximately100 million Americans-roughly 1 of every 4-will have diabetesby 2028.