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‘Statistics point to diabetes crisis in the region’
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Posted on Nov 25 2011
By Clarissa David
Reporter
Reporter
Commonwealth Diabetes Coalition chair John Oliver Gonzales encouraged the community to live healthy amid “crisis statistics” indicating increase in the number of individuals affected by diabetes.
“Diabetes is of epidemic proportion in the Pacific and we are in the Pacific,” said Gonzales.
Gonzales, who warned that diabetes affects every part of the body, said a study called Family Investigation of Nephropathy and Diabetes or the FIND project conducted by Dr. William Knowler under the National Institutes of Health support his concern.
The study, conducted in April 2009, involved 2,326 samples, 454 of which are from Saipan while 1,872 are from Guam.
Of the 454 samples from Saipan, 139 or 31 percent had a history of diabetes. In Guam, 501 out of 1,872 or 37 percent had a history of diabetes.
The number of individuals receiving dialysis based on the samples was 78 or 17 percent on Saipan while Guam showed 296 or 16 percent.
“We need to wake up,” said Gonzales. “We need to incorporate green eating, green living. We need to start eating raw vegetables, no more processed foods, no more imported goods.”
