According to a study by "PLOSÂ One", diabetes is the third leading cause of death in the United States. A local doctor tells us why diabetes continues to grow.Â
Medical Director and Bariatric Surgeon at St. Rita's Medical Center, Stephanie Dunkle-Blatter, says diabetes type two is the most common type of diabetes and is mainly caused by obesity. Dunkle-Blatter says symptoms could include trouble with urination and vision. She says screening for diabetes is the best way to determine whether or not you have diabetes.Â
Dunkle-Blatter says keeping a healthy body mass index can help prevent obesity. "Certainly watching your weight is crucial to avoid diabetes. What happens when somebody becomes overweight, the body becomes resistant to insulin, so glucose levels increase in the body and that causes all sorts of problems. It affects especially small blood vessels, that's why diabetics have trouble fighting infections and that's why they lose digits and limbs and also why the eyesight goes," says Dunkle-Blatter.Â
Dunkle-Blatter says weight is the main underlying problem with most diabetics.Â
