A SURPRISING NEW TREATMENT ANSWER MAY BE ON THE HORIZON FOR DIABETES

 As of 2005, 20.8 million people—7.0% of the American population—have diabetes; 1.5 million new cases of diabetes were found in people, aged 20 years or older, in the same year. For Americans aged 20 years or younger, less than one-quarter of 1% (about 176,500 people) have diabetes. Among Americans aged 20 years or older, 9.6% (20.6 million people) have diabetes. The incidence of diabetes increases for older people. Among Americans aged 60 years or older, 20.9% (10.3 million people) have diabetes. The estimated economic cost of diabetes in 2002 (the latest year for figures) was $132 billion.

Obesity in America is a growing concern with more than 40% to 50% considered overweight. Obesity is a major risk factor for diabetes too, and researchers are furiously pursuing reasons for the link as rates for both climb. What's known is that excess fat can cause the body's normal response to insulin to go crazy. Researchers are investigating insulin-regulating hormones released by fat and the role of fatty acids in the blood as well. The patients there had stomach band surgery, a procedure more common in Australia than in the United States, where gastric bypass surgery, or stomach stapling, predominates. "It's the best therapy for diabetes that we have today, and it's very low risk," said the study's lead author, Dr. John Dixon of Monash University Medical School in Melbourne, Australia. Gastric bypass is even more effective against diabetes, achieving remission in a matter of days or a month,

This opens an entirely new way of thinking about diabetes. The death rate for stomach band surgery, which can cost $17,000 to $20,000, is about 1 in 1,000. There were only minor complications in the Australian study. Maybe one day we will see diabetes as a problem in our history.