Ten fun facts about Diabetes

Fact 1
The discovery of the disease dates back to 1500 B.C.E, where Egyptians and Indian doctors describe it as 'honey urine' because of the high sugar content.

Fact 2
A French physician in the 1850's actually advised his patients to eat large amounts of sugar, as a treatment for diabetes!

Fact 3
Dogs and cats can encounter diabetes when they get to be middle-aged. Female dogs are twice as likely to get it as males, and male cats are more prone than females.

Fact 4
At least 8.3% of the United States population has diabetes, but about 7 million people have not actually been diagnosed.

Fact 5
While type 1 diabetes cannot be prevented, type 2 diabetes can be by a healthy diet, exercise and a normal body weight. Keeping an active lifestyle can reduce or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes by over 50%.

Fact 6
Diabetes has become the number 8 leading cause of death as of 2011, resulting in at least 1.4 million deaths.

Fact 7
Though type 2 diabetes does often occur more in minorities, such as African Americans and Hispanics, Caucasians are more likely to have type 1 diabetes. At least 71% of the children with the disease are Caucasian.

Fact 8
Treatment for diabetes didn't come until the 20th century, when insulin was developed in 1921 and 1922.

Fact 9
Legumes can help lower your blood sugar and reduce risk of heart disease in people with type 2 diabetes.

Fact 10
Eating too much sugar does not actually cause diabetes. It can make you gain weight, which increase your risk, but type 1&2 are developed from destroyed insulin or genetically inherited.