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Treating Diabesity: Breaking Down this Health Epidemic

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Gregory Santulli
Insulin resistance. Prediabetes. Metabolic syndrome. Obesity. Syndrome X. Type 2 diabetes mellitus.
 
Although varying in degree of severity, these diagnoses share the same underlying cause. I’ve set them aside in favor of the term diabesity to describe the state of metabolic imbalance and disease ranging from a little bit of belly fat to insulin resistance to full-blown diabetes.
 
A health epidemic
 
The term diabesity has been around since the 1970s, but data collected over the last two decades has brought it to the forefront today.
The sheer increase in cases of diabetes and obesity tells us something has changed. Worldwide, more than 100 billion people suffer from diabesity. And in the U.S., more than 100 million people are affected, including half of all people over age 65.

Getting to the root of the problem

Understanding a person’s biology is the basis of Functional Medicine, which is grounded in the field of systems biology. In the Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine, we ask each patient to answer 10 questions related todiabetes.
 
The questions include:
  • Do you have a family history of diabetes, heart disease or obesity?
  • Do you have extra belly fat?
  • Do you have high triglycerides or low HDL (or good) cholesterol?
Patients’ answers inform our understanding of the role lifestyle, health conditions and genetics plays in their disease.
 
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Gregory Santulli
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