This disease may foretell diabetes, heart attacks, or cancer and you may just have it!

Federal health statistics show that nearly half of all adults in the U.S. have either pre-diabetes or diabetes, severely raising their risk for heart attacks, blindness, amputations and cancer.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - These statistics show that 12.3% of Americans 20 and older have diabetes and another 37% have pre-diabetes, a condition marked by higher-than-normal blood sugar. That's up 10% from just a decade ago.

You can be a light in the darkness with "prayer and action."

Sixteen studies, involving almost 900,000 people worldwide, shows that pre-diabetes not only sets the stage for diabetes, but also increases a persons risk of cancer by 15%.

"It's bad everywhere," says Philip Kern, director of the Barnstable Brown Diabetes and Obesity Center at the University of Kentucky. "You almost have the perfect storm of an aging population and a population growing more obese, plus fewer reasons to move and be active, and fast food becoming more prevalent."

The term pre-diabetes was coined in the late 1990s, replacing less severe terms that didn't accurately convey the severity of the condition. Without permanent changed to lifestyle, people with pre-diabetes will develop Type 2 diabetes within just 5 years.

Pre-diabetes rarely has symptoms, usually it's only found with blood tests, but usually it remains undiagnosed. The Centers for Disease Control says that about 10% of the afflicted adults know they have it.

"We've proven (pre-diabetes) is an intervention time," said Matthew Petersen, the association's managing director of medical information and professional engagement. "It's a call to action."

Experts say that those with pre-diabetes can prevent or delay diabetes by losing 5%-7% of their body weight and getting at least 150 minutes a week of moderate exercise-like brisk walking; and eating a moderate-calorie, healthy diet.

"It's very clear that weight loss is far more powerful than any drug we can give," Kern says.

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