Diabetes mellitus is a group of diseases sharing the common characteristic of high blood sugar levels. Diabetes happens when the pancreas cannot produce enough insulin or when the insulin that is produced in the pancreas cannot work adequately. When diabetes is not well controlled, it can cause serious complications and premature death.

I ask health professional all the time about people coming in to have routine health checks just to learn to their surprise they have Type I or II diabetes. Thirty year old Tom was admitted for sores all over his body for simply walking all day at Disneyland with his family. He was then told he had acute diabetes and needed to be in a wheelchair.

And today with continued rise in the number of people with diabetes in the United States is alarming and many people like Tom did not even know they had it until it was too late. There are nearly 21 million people in the United States alone that have diabetes; most of them type 2. This represents about 7 percent of the population and more than 6 million of these people do not know they have the condition, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in addition reports that another 41 million people are estimated to have pre-diabetes, a condition that is developed before type 2 diabetes. Diabetes is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States. In 2005 alone 1.5 million people aged 20 years or older were newly diagnosed with diabetes

Most people who get diabetes are told by their doctor to start taking diabetes pills or medications and go on a diet. The doctor hands them a diet to follow, they try it out, then can't get motivated and when hungry calls go out and have some pizza and beer.

What people are often not told is that diabetes is a leading cause of adult blindness, lower-limb amputation, kidney disease and nerve damage. This could lead to even more complications and death for sure.

Most people getting diabetes are in the 40s, 50s and upwards. But in todays fast food society young children and adults even in their teens and early 20s and 30s have it or are going to end up with this deadly quite killer disease.

I tell people that there is no cure or magic diet pill that will save them from getting this disease for which there is no known cure for. There are only a few easy ways treat diabetes through education from doctors or other professionals in the know which will tell you to control high blood pressure, reduce cholesterol levels and quit smoking. These key factors alone will help reduce the risk for developing diabetes.