Gestational Diabetes

The percentage of American adults who have ever been diagnosed with gestational diabetes is relatively low, but there are some significant differences between states.  Some states with relatively high gestational diabetes numbers (CA for instance) are below average in the percentage of adults with Type 2 diabetes.

Diabetes in America

As Americans have grown fatter, the percentage of adults with diabetes has also risen.  Diabetes involves the inability of the body to process sugars derived from the foods we eat.  Type 1 (AKA childhood diabetes) is inborn where a child's body lacks the ability to produce enough insulin.  Type 2 (AKA adult onset diabetes) usually involves obesity where a steady diet of sugar, carbohydrates and other such foods have burnt out the body's ability to produce enough insulin and/or created a condition where the body's cells have developed resistance to insulin.

Another kind of diabetes develops among some pregnant women -gestational diabetes.  Diabetes is an inflammatory disease and some recent studies point the possibility that Alzheimer's disease is actually Type 3 diabetes.

In more than a fifth of states -12 to be exact- the percentage of diabetic adults has now risen to more than 10%.