Information versus Knowledge, 4

Back to the obesity contagion. This pandemic is of international concern because obesity is linked with more than fifty diseases—including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, some forms of cancer, and dementia. According to the American Diabetes Association, a person is diagnosed with diabetes every twenty seconds in the USA, most with type 2 diabetes (although some will go on to develop type 3 diabetes and/or diabetes mellitus). If people continue to gain weight and remain inactive, estimates are that within thirty to forty years one in three Americans will have some form of diabetes, a terrifying statistic for patients as well as healthcare professionals and health systems. My goal is to share information so people are informed. They then need to make a decision (and not making a decision is a decision) and they are the only ones who can turn information into knowledge and practically apply it on a consistent basis.