Diabetes has become a national and global epidemic and public health burden. There are 30 million Americans with diabetes, while another 85 million suffer from prediabetes. Worldwide, almost 463 million people had diabetes in 2019. That number is projected to increase to 700 million by 2045.
- Type 1 diabetes (T1D) can develop at any age, but most frequently in adolescents and children. Here, the pancreas loses the cells that make insulin, the glucose regulating biomolecule.
- Type 2 diabetes (T2D) accounts for around 95% of diabetes cases, and occurs more frequently in adults. The body develops resistance to insulin and can no longer regulate glucose. Unfortunately, controlling blood glucose does not stop T2D progression.
- Additionally, a growing number of people have prediabetes, a condition characterized by an impaired ability to regulate blood glucose.
- Complications of diabetes progression include nerve, eye, kidney, and cardiovascular damage. These can eventually lead to significant disability and possibly death.
- Our focus is nerve damage to peripheral nerves in the arms and legs, which leads to neuropathy, or damage to the brain, which leads to cognitive decline. Diabetic nerve damage – neuropathy – is the most common diabetes complication and affects about 60% of diabetes patients and 30% of prediabetes patients.
- Obesity and diabetes are closely associated; over 90% of diabetic people are overweight. Obesity and diabetes are the main drivers of nerve damage. Prediabetic individuals can also develop nerve damage.
