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National Diabetes Month provides opportunities for individuals to reevaluate their lifestyles

Category: Diabetes

With large segments of the society predicted to develop type 2 diabetes within the coming years, experts are saying that November, which is National Diabetes Month, is the perfect to seek HbA1c testing to check for the presence of the disease and to take proactive steps to avoid metabolic problems.

Recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicted that half of all Americans could have diabetes or prediabetes by the year 2020. The agency said that dramatic lifestyle changes are needed to prevent the epidemic from reaching these levels.

Dr. Joel Zonszein, a professor of clinical medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, said that he thinks it is important for individuals to begin practicing healthy lifestyle habits early in life. This may prepare enable them to avoid metabolic complications down the road.

Unless more people heed this advice, Zonszein said the diabetes epidemic could grow to "tsunami-like" proportions. Therefore, he recommended that people take advantage of National Diabetes Month to begin thinking about how to live a healthier lifestyle.

Currently, the American Diabetes Association estimates that about 26 million Americans have diabetes.