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CHAPTER 5
Curcumin and Diabetes
T
ype 2 diabetes is the disease of the Western lifestyle. This dis-
ease, once known as adult-onset diabetes, was considered the
province of the over-50 crowd. You know the ones I mean, the ones
with the potbellies, vegging out in front of the TV, munching on
Doritos chased with half a gallon of Rocky Road.
Now it is the disease of teens raised on Big Macs and gallons
of Coke, 20-somethings with high cholesterol, 30-somethings with
erectile dysfunction and 40-somethings with coronary bypasses.
Type 1 diabetes is usually diagnosed in children and is charac-
terized by a malfunctioning pancreas that does not produce suffi-
cient quantities of the body’s own insulin to properly utilize the
natural sugars in food.
Type 2 diabetes, on the other hand, is a lifestyle disease. Scien-
tifically, it is characterized by the body’s inability to respond to the
insulin produced by the pancreas. This is called insulin resistance.
The American Diabetes Association reports that 25.8 million
Americans suffer from the disease, 7 million of them undiagnosed.
Another 79 million are considered “prediabetic,” meaning they
have some blood sugar malfunction.
It’s important to note that the vast majority of people with type
2 diabetes are obese. Alarmingly, the number of people with dia-
betes in the U.S. has increased by 76% in the last 20 years in pace
with the increase in obesity.
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