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An estimated 16 million Americans have diabetes, but according to a government estimate, more than 5 million of these — many of them overweight — are unaware they have the disease.

Inattention to diabetes can be mean damaged vision, stroke, and kidney failure as well as early death.

Researchers report that about 75 percent of Americans with diabetes weigh too much, a condition that stresses the heart and other organs. When you’re overweight, your pancreas — the organ that makes insulin and regulates your blood sugar — has to work harder. And as a result, in some people who are predisposed, the organ fails, and that allows blood sugar to go out of control and leads to diabetes.

In diabetes, there’s too much glucose in the blood. Glucose is a kind of sugar that your body’s cells use for fuel. When glucose builds up in the blood instead of going into cells, it can cause two problems — right away, your cells may be starved for energy; over time, high glucose levels may hurt your eyes, kidneys, nerves, or heart.

Exercise and diet to maintain healthy weight can ward off diabetes for some people predisposed to the disease, and for those with diabetes, losing weight can delay or stop the toll of organ damage. Anyone 45 and older should be tested annually for diabetes, and if normal, tested at three-year intervals.

Exercise also makes the body more sensitive to the actions of insulin, thus lowering the requirement for insulin to maintain your blood sugar normal.

Obesity is a nutritional disorder characterized by increased body weight more over the ideal weight, with large consequences on health. Obesity affects the physical appearance of the person but also her mental state.

The main cause of obesity is nutritional, excess calories, in addition with physical inactivity and stress.

- Diabetes mellitus is in direct relationship with obesity.
- Steatosis, or fatty liver disease “is an accumulation of fat in the liver.
- The main cause of non alcoholic steatosis is insulin resistance, a metabolic disease in which cells become resistant to insulin.
- One of the main causes of insulin resistance is obesity, especially the abdominal obesity

Studies have shown that there is a strong correlation between body weight index and liver condition. Patients with abdominal obesity, characterized by localized fat in the abdomen, are at greater risk of developing a disease related to obesity. Fat accumulated around the abdomen is mostly related to cardiovascular diseases and insulin resistance syndrome.

It is imperative a lifestyle change – adequate nutrition, movement, combat stress, eliminate tobacco, excessive alcohol and coffee.