ALBERT LEA, Minn. - Diabetes is a disease being diagnosed at rapidly increasing rates.
The International Diabetes Federation estimates 336 million people worldwide have the disease, and that number is expected to jump in the next 20 years.
Experts project by 2030 about 552 million people worldwide will be either type 1 or type 2 diabetic.
That's 1 in 10 adults.
The report was released Monday in honor of World Diabetes Day, a day where 160 different countries try to raise awareness and education about the disease.
“It's on the rise and it continues to go up,” said Gala Kubat, certified diabetes educator at Mayo Clinic Health System in Albert Lea.
Kubat says not only are more people getting the disease, they're being diagnosed at a younger age.
“The start popping up more and more teenagers and even 12 year olds being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes,” said Kubat.
Kubat says warning signs for the disease include constant fatigue or the feeling of always being thirsty, “people have told me that a lake wouldn't have been enough water at some point.”
With so many people getting the disease, diabetes educators across the country are promoting lifestyles that will help prevent a diagnosis.
“The most important thing is to eat a healthy diet and exercise it's basic but so hard,” said Kubat.
If left untreated, diabetes can cause blindness, poor circulation, renal disease and heart disease because, “the heart is so vascular the blood sugars when they don't get into the muscles to energize the body it plugs up all the little blood vessels.”
Which is why Kubat says if you've experienced any warning signs, or if diabetes runs in your family, it's better to be safe than sorry.
“Whatever it takes, get to see your doctor go see a diabetes educator and get to the point where the blood sugar levels are under control and it keeps you safe,” said Kubat.
