ABSTRACT
Diabetes mellitus has existed for centuries, but became globally relevant in the early 1980s. The disease is often linked to our modern lifestyle, including consuming greater amounts of calories while getting insufficient physical exercise. Globally, rates of obesity have exploded. Diabetes is the 7th most common cause of death in Westernized countries, with approximately 26.7 of every 100,000 dying from complications of the disease. Diabetes is an increasingly important risk factor for cardiovascular disease. People with diabetes have an increased risk of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. There is a decreased life expectancy by as many as 8 years compared to people that do not have diabetes. The most common nonvascular causes of death from diabetes include cancer, kidney disease, liver disease, and pneumonia. These facts indicate the importance of aggressive diabetes and cardiovascular risk factor management in order to reduce diabetes-related mortality. Obesity is a pandemic caused by many different factors. These include genetics, development within the womb and during the childhood years, biology of a child’s mother, nutrition, a more automated society, urban settings that utilize more transportation, the perception of weight, costs of food, dietary components that are high in calories and fat, and an overall more sedentary lifestyle.
