There has been a disturbing rise in recent years in younger people being diagnosed with this condition.

• In 2013 there were 63 million 20-39 yr olds with this T2D worldwide.

Fast forward just 8 years and …

• by 2021 that number went up to 260 million!

(Data from the 10th edition of the IDF Diabetes Atlas )

I don't know about you, but this statistic disturbs me. 

That's a more than four fold increase in young people with T2D in just 8 years.

This category made about half of all people with T2D in 2021 (527 million).

(I don't know the latest figures, but I doubt they are any better).

Do you know why this disturbs me?

Because that is just the tip of the iceberg.

For the body to reach the point of T2D, where glucose stays floating in the blood and cannot make it into the cells, it means that for years, even decades it has been struggling.

When a 30 year old exits their Dr's office with T2D diagnosis, it means that the problem started in their teens, if not in their childhood.

It also means that they are likely to die on average 14 yrs earlier than their peers without diabetes.

 (Study in Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology (Sept.2023)).

That is a lot of years that could have been spent enjoying life.

And it is not just the loss of lifespan. Healthspan also takes a significant hit.

T2D goes hand in hand with a whole host of not optimal conditions which make the last years of an already shorter life that much harder.

The good news is that it does not have to be this way.

Unlike in the past, when we had little to no control over things that killed us (contagious disease, famine, injury, infections), we do have control over the chronic diseases that started plaguing modern civilization in the last 100 or so years.

Yes, our environment may not always be conducive to health, but we ALWAYS have a choice.

According to the IDF, in 2021 240 million were estimated to have undiagnosed diabetes. That is close to half all those living with T2D.

Imagine if they knew about it and took action.

This number is nothing compared to those that walk around with what precedes diabetes: insulin resistance. That number is in the billions.

It has become "normal" to be metabolically unhealthy. And when something becomes "normal" that our human psyche tends to downplay its significance.

But "normal" does not equal optimal. nor healthy.

Do not become a statistic.

Test - don't guess. (Here is how):

And take action early - because prevention is far better (and cheaper!) than "cure".