12mo ago

Nearly half of the U.S. population has diabetes or prediabetes—and many have no clue. Are you among them? | Fortune

fortune.com Nearly half of the U.S. population has diabetes or prediabetes—and many have no clue. Are you among them? | Fortune

All told, roughly half of the U.S. population has diabetes or its predecessor—and it's turning us into a nation burdened with illness, experts say.

Wonder if this shift corresponds to the age of automobiles

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How would diabetes and the age of cars link in any way?
- how wouldn't it?
  
  ?
  Explain the connection to a vehicle using an internal combustion engine (or a battery pack) and someone with diabetes. Because I don't see any connection.
  
  Third order effect of more cars. Higher numbers of cars requires more car infrastructure which tends to displace pedestrian infrastructure.
  Less pedestrian infrastructure means less convenience, which tends to lower utilization. Lower utilization, less walking. A little less low impact cardio for most.
  
  You walk more, sometimes a lot more, when using public transit. It's speculated to be one of the reasons why Europeans are on average thinner than Americans.
  Although I thought diabetes was much more about diet than exercise?
  
  (Type 2) Diabetes is mostly about obesity, but yeah obesity is mostly about diet, because it's a lot easier to eat less than it is to exercise more. Exercise still plays a part though, even though it's the lesser one
  
  Diabetes and obesity are correlated because they are both symptoms of metabolic syndrome. Increased insulin levels over a long period of time leads to disregulation of many metabolic health markers.
  Not all people get all symptoms... The skinny fat people with diabetes, for instance.
  The body can only store 2-5g of glucose at a time, only circulating in the blood. The rest gets stored as fat. The body doesn't store glucose. Whenever you eat sugar, carbs, alcohol, the body pumps out insulin to regulate blood sugar levels. A diet that requires the body to constantly produce insulin causes the entire system to become less sensitive to insulin over time.
  So yes, reducing insulin levels allows the body to work better over time. Reduce carbs, reduce alcohol, reduce sugar. The more time you spend between carbohydrates the more your body can self regulate.
  Increasing muscle mass can help consume excess glucose, but diet is the main factor
  
  What do diabetics use? Insulin. Why? Sugar level issues. What do insulin and sugar do? They help provide energy to the body. What else provides energy? Batteries. What uses batteries and also has a body? Cars.
  
  This wouldn’t be an issue if everybody threw their car batteries in the ocean to maintain nature’s power cycle instead of “recycling” them at autozone.
  
  Put sugar in your gas tank? Less diabetes! I found a cure!
  
  haha, yes! well done
  
  diabetes linked to obesity https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3066828/
  obesity linked to car use https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8744747/

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