Oprah Vows to Save Millions From Diabetes

"This silent killer continues to affect 80 million people." According to Oprah, "People are dropping like flies." She continues, "I have a radical goal in the next 60 minutes to save millions of lives."

A recurring guest on the Oprah Winfrey Show, Dr Mehmet Oz, heart surgeon, says he often treats people with diabetes since the disease is so prevalent in todays society. "One quarter of the people I operate on have diabetes because diabetes causes hardening of the arteries,"

57 million people have pre-diabetes. 24 million people in the US have been diagnosed with diabetes. 6 million don't even know they have it. The risk of death for people with diabetes doubles.

There are 800,000 new cases each year and that doesn't include the increasing rate of children who are being diagnosed. That means 91 people are being diagnosed with this life threatening disease every hour.

Two Most Common Types of Diabetes Are:

Type 1 is usually confirmed between childhood to age 30. The person's pancreas produces little or no insulin and without added insulin, the person can go into a coma. Complications are hardening of the arteries, loss of vision, and kidney failure."

Type 2 is when the person is both insulin resistant and has high blood sugar. This type of diabetes can often be treated with diet, exercise and oral medicine and is frequently linked to obesity.

Oprah goes on to say, "Americans spend $174 billion a year on diabetes and that will double in 25 years. That is more than AIDS and all of the cancers combined. "At this rate it will bankrupt our health care system,"

Suzanne Andrews, host of Functional Fitness on PBS TV, advises her diabetes patients to make time for fitness now or sickness later. " People with diabetes need to exercise to control blood sugar and reduce the risk of heart disease and nerve damage. The more you exercise, the less dependant your muscles are on insulin."

Sudies reveal that people with pre-diabetes can prevent or delay and reverse type 2 diabetes. According to the Science Daily, "In studies that focused on exercise only, blood glucose improved twice as much as in studies that focused on exercise, diet and medication adherence," said Vicki Conn, professor and associate dean of research in the MU Sinclair School of Nursing. "One thing we found was that it doesn't matter how overweight you are or how poor your current blood glucose is at the start of the studies, the improvements from exercise were equal across the board," Conn said.

All medical professionals agree that if a diabetic makes time for prevention now, they reduce the time they spend with serious complications later. Suzanne Andrews says, " Some of my patients who have lost their legs, eyesight and schedule their lives around dialysis appointments know how serious diabetes is so don't wait til it's too late. Get moving now."

Dr. Oz echoes the warning, "There are 6,000 amputations in the US every year because of diabetes. "People don't change their lives from what they know, they change their lives because of what they feel," Oz said. Diabetes can lead to amputations because the arteries get damaged and the blood circulation stops.