An estimated 16 million people in the United States have diabetes, a condition in which the body is unable to convert the glucose from food into energy. At best, diabetes is a nuisance and involves regular medication and a change in lifestyle; at worst, the disease can lead to serious complications and can be fatal. In fact, diabetes is the seventh main cause of death as well as a leading cause of blindness. Diabetes costs an estimated $174 billion annually in treatment, health insurance, and missed work days. But is it really possible to have diabetes and not even know it? Amazingly, around a third of diabetes sufferers don’t realize that they have it. The symptoms are often mistaken for something else and it simply doesn’t occur to many people that they might actually have diabetes. It’s often perceived, especially by otherwise healthy people, as something that can only happen to others. Certain ethnic and other groups are statistically more at risk of developing diabetes … [Read more...]