The Diabetes Epidemic

David Lazarus's column in today's Los Angeles Times gives you the numbers, and if you read the whole column, he warns you off a quack.

latimes.com

Diabetes breakthrough? He may charge you $15,000 to find out

David Lazarus
June 17, 2011

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Jamie Powers has Type 2 diabetes. He weighs about 370 pounds and is in a wheelchair because complications from his disease required that his left leg be amputated below the knee. He takes daily pills and insulin shots.

I met Powers, 55, earlier this week at a hotel near Los Angeles International Airport, where he was among about 200 people attending a seminar titled "Diabetes Breakthrough."

A newspaper ad promised that "you will discover the hidden secrets about how to reverse your diabetes, reduce and eliminate your need and dependence on drugs, lose weight without exercise, explode your energy levels and the potential to become non-diabetic."

Diabetes has reached epidemic proportions. About 26 million Americans have it, and millions more are in danger of getting it. Like Powers, the vast majority of people with diabetes are Type 2, the variation typically associated with being overweight. Type 1 diabetes, once known as juvenile diabetes, usually has genetic roots.