This editorial is from USA Today August 6, 2000
Troubling statistics on adult diabetes released Thursday (CLICK HERE) don't reveal a national disease crisis as much as they reveal a national snacking crisis: Call it death by Twinkie.
The type of diabetes that afflicts adults has risen 33% in the past decade. Three out of every 50 adults now have the serious-but-treatable, diet-linked condition, according to researchers with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The news won't surprise anyone who pays attention to what Americans eat: Candy consumption has climbed 40% in the same period. People eat a pound more chocolate today than in 1990. They also consume too much pasta, pop, pastry, fast food and alcohol.
A third of Americans are significantly overweight. That includes the young. USA TODAY reported Wednesday that weight gain among college students, which used to be known as the "freshman 15" is now the "freshman 25" thanks mostly to junk food.
Result: a much higher risk of adult-onset diabetes, as the body's ability to convert blood sugar into energy wears down. Where the disease used to strike at about age 50, the number of cases among Americans in their 30s has risen about 70% since 1990, the new study shows.
And instead of battling this trend, the U.S. accommodates it. Automakers and public-transit services are installing bigger seats and longer seat belts. Drugs have been sold to promote weight loss without exercise or better eating. The National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, a group that celebrates an annual No-Diet Day, has expanded to 30-plus chapters nationally.
Meanwhile, the costs of bad habits balloon. Diabetes alone, 95% of which is the adult-onset variety, costs the health care system about $90 billion per year, more than heart disease or cancer, according to a Food and Drug Administration report.
A better solution lies in eating fewer sweets, fats and carbohydrates and exercising more -- and that's a fact that can't be liposuctioned away.
Below is a copy of a brief letter that I sent to USA Today in reply:
Sugar is clearly one of the most devastating physical contributors to disease in our country. Unfortunately, most of us are addicted to sugar which complicates the issue of avoiding it. My experience as a physician has been that the threat of a distant disease, such as diabetes, is infrequently effective at motivating behavior change. When I consult with patients, I focus on the many other problems that sugar can cause, which are far more immediate, such as fatigue, abdominal pains, weight gain, arthritis and depression. Your readers might find the list of 108 reasons of how sugar can devastate your health that I have listed on my web site. The reasons are all documented to the scientific literature. My congratulations to USA Today for the courage to address this important health issue. Dr. Mercola (www.mercola.com)