Rates
• Diagnosed diabetes prevalence rates in the U.S. are 7.6% for Cubans and Central and South Americans, 13.3% for Mexican Americans, and 13.8% for Puerto Ricans.
• In California, 11.6% of all Latino adults ages 18-64 reported being diagnosed with diabetes in 2009.
• Nationally, 78% of Mexican Americans are overweight or obese, compared to 60.3% of Whites.
• At least 40% of Latino children in California are either overweight or obese.
• In California, more than 53% of foreign-born Latinos and 32% of U.S.-born Latinos diagnosed with diabetes were aged 21-40 years.

Diabetes and Latino youth
• The number of Latino youth being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes is steadily increasing.
• Adolescents at high risk for developing diabetes are also at high risk for developing chronic diseases, like cardiovascular disease and others, that in the past were predominately found in adults.
• It is estimated that among males born in 2000, the risk at birth of being diagnosed with diabetes during their lifetime is almost double for Latino males than White males (45.5% vs. 26.7%).
• It is estimated that among females born in 2000, more than one in two Latina females (52.4%) will be diagnosed with diabetes during their lifetime compared to one in three White females (31.2%).

The cost
• It is estimated that approximately $116 billion dollars a year are spent in the U.S. to pay for the direct medical costs of people with diabetes.
• A male diagnosed with diabetes at age 40 will lose 11.6 life years and 18.6 quality-adjusted life years.4
• A woman diagnosed with diabetes at age 40 will lose 14.3 life years and 22.0 quality-adjusted life years.

Treatment and prevention
It is important to stress that diabetes can be managed, and in the case of type 2 diabetes it can be delayed, prevented, and even reversed if proper steps are taken to adapt a healthy lifestyle.

Losing even a small amount of weight, eating a low-fat diet, and increasing physical activity can prevent and delay the development of diabetes and help maintain normal blood glucose levels. For example, a study conducted by the Diabetes Prevention Program found that increasing physical activity to 30 minutes for five days a week together with a 5-7% reduction in body weight and low-fat diet produced a 58% reduction in the onset of diabetes.

Source: Health Initiative of the Americas, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley.