Thought Leadership In Action

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), diabetes has become nothing less than an epidemic in the U.S. – primarily because of the burgeoning rate of type 2 diabetes. Previously called non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) or adult-onset diabetes, only a few decades ago this form of diabetes was considered to be exclusively a disease of middle-aged and older people. However, it is now increasingly common for people in their 20s and even in adolescence to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.

The scope of the problem is staggering: there are currently about 24 million cases of diabetes in the U.S. Only about 5% are type 1, once known as juvenile diabetes, which is the most serious form of the disease. Believed to be the result of an autoimmune problem and usually first diagnosed in children and young adults, type 1 occurs when the body produces little or no insulin, the hormone necessary to convert sugar, starches and other food into energy needed for daily life. Currently incurable, type 1 diabetes is managed with the help of insulin therapy, a regulated diet to control blood sugar and other treatments.

The vast majority of diabetes in this country is the type 2 variety, which is distinguished from type 1 in several ways. In type 2 diabetes, the body makes insulin but doesn’t respond properly to it. And, most importantly, the type 2 form can be prevented, and sometimes even reversed, with lifestyle changes.

Preventing Type 2 Diabetes

The National Institutes for Health (NIH) calls type 2 diabetes a “preventable epidemic” because research has shown that pre-diabetic conditions can be successfully treated with exercise and diet. The result is a halt in the progression to full-blown diabetes.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates that about one in four U.S. adults 20 years of age or older had pre-diabetes in 2007. In all, according to the NIH, 41 million Americans have pre-diabetes, which is characterized by high blood sugar levels on a glucose tolerance test or a fasting glucose test.

Whether the condition develops into full-blown type 2 diabetes largely depends on whether the individual loses excess weight, exercises regularly and eats a healthy diet that includes vegetables, fruits, lean sources of protein and whole grains – and skips starches and sugars known as high-glycemic foods that raise blood sugar levels.

Although genetic factors may influence the development of type 2 diabetes, the NIH emphasizes that lifestyle factors are the primary reason the disease develops. For example, data from the Nurses' Health Study concluded that 90% of type 2 diabetes in women develops due to lifestyle factors such as excess weight, lack of exercise, a less-than-healthy diet and smoking.

Why Lifestyle Changes are Effective

The Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP), a major multicenter clinical research study aimed at discovering whether modest weight loss through dietary changes and increased physical activity could prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes, has shown that people with pre-diabetes can often prevent or delay diabetes if they lose a modest amount of weight by cutting fat and calorie intake and increasing physical activity by taking a 30 minute daily walk, 5 days a week. Losing just 5% - 7% of body weight prevents or delays diabetes by nearly 60%.

In the DPP, people aged 60 or older who made these lifestyle changes dramatically reduced their chances of developing diabetes by 70%. Moreover, participants in the lifestyle intervention group experienced normalized glucose levels and lowered their risk of developing heart disease and other problems associated with diabetes, as well. The research revealed that being physically active specifically helps muscle cells use blood glucose for energy by making the cells more sensitive to insulin.

Recognizing these facts and educating managers and employees about ways to prevent type 2 diabetes by encouraging healthy lifestyles can have an enormous impact on both individuals and the corporate bottom line. Type 2 diabetes greatly raises the risk of heart disease, stroke, neuropathy, kidney failure and other serious health problems which contribute to diabetes being the sixth leading cause of death in the U.S. In addition, the huge numbers of people with type 2 diabetes cases contributes to the economic burden of growing healthcare costs to both individuals and businesses, with direct and indirect costs totally around $ 174 billion a year.

Facts from the CDC on how Type 2 Diabetes Impacts the Corporate Bottom Line:

• Indirect costs from the disease include increased absenteeism ($2.6 billion) and reduced productivity while at work ($20.0 billion for the employed population), unemployment from disease-related disability ($7.9 billion) and lost productive capacity due to early mortality ($26.9 billion).
• Diabetes results in 15 million work days absent, 120 million work days with reduced performance and an average of 107 million work days lost due to unemployment disability attributed to diabetes.
• The population with the highest per capita productivity loss from absenteeism is males age 45-53.