According to an alarming article published in JAMA Pediatrics, nearly 30% of 12-to-19-year-olds in the United States have prediabetes. Many of these young people will move on to develop diabetes as adults and will suffer the complications of diabetes, including heart attack, stroke, blindness, hearing loss, kidney failure, nerve damage, cancer, severe infections, amputation, erectile dysfunction, and dental problems. The cellular damage that leads to these complications begins in the prediabetic phase. It does not wait until there is full-blown diabetes.
This dangerous trend represents one of the greatest threats to the health and longevity of our young people. It is one of the main reasons why children will likely not live as long as their parents (click here), and why the average life expectancy in the United States, which began its historic fall in 2016 (click here), is continuing to fall (click here). It doesn’t have to be this way! By adopting the same healthy diet and lifestyle I recommend for my cancer patients (click here), we can ALL increase our chances of living a long and healthy life.
