Valley diabetes rates triple the national average

McALLEN - More than one in five people in the Rio Grande Valley has diabetes - about three times the national rate, officials said Monday.

And that number will most likely rise in coming years.

"It will get worse before it gets better," said George Huntley, chairman-elect of the American Diabetes Association's board of directors, at a luncheon his organization sponsored for local business and healthcare professionals at the Embassy Suites in McAllen.

The high number of Hispanics in the region makes the Valley "one of the bigger pockets" in the United States in which diabetes runs rampant.

Nationwide, about 8 percent of people have diabetes, Huntley said.

In the Valley, that number ranges between 20 and 25 percent, with more than 200,000 people here fighting the disease - and 60,000 people who don't know they have it.

"You can't prevent what you don't know you have," said Dr. Victor Gonzalez, founder of the Valley Retina Institute in McAllen.

Ballooning dilemma

Diabetes' prevalence is stronger among Latino, Native-American and African-American populations than other ethnic groups, Huntley said.

State Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., D-Brownsville, told Monday's audience that as many as half of minority youths in the country would develop diabetes in their lifetime.

"Being that we are a minority-majority community, one in two is a very scary thing," he said.

Medical and indirect costs associated with diabetes totaled $174 billion in the United States in 2007 - with $1.5 billion in the Valley alone. Approximately $400 million was spent in 2007 on research to develop a cure for diabetes, said Huntley, who lives in Indianapolis and has diabetes himself.

"We still need to do better," Huntley said. "The problem is really ballooning now."

Part of the problem in the Valley is that many rural residents may not have immediate or easy access to stores that offer healthier foods and may opt for smaller convenience stores that lack fresh produce or meat, Gonzalez said.

Think then eat

Huntley suggested a number of ways to slow down diabetes' rise in the Valley and across the country.

Besides eating healthier and exercising, changes could be made to local zoning laws that limit the amount of fast food restaurants in neighborhoods, he said. More sidewalks could also be built.

And bans on trans fats, such as one instituted in New York City and other large metropolitan areas, as well as placing calorie counts on menus, would help people make better choices about what they eat, Huntley said.

State Rep. Veronica Gonzales, D-McAllen, said lawmakers have tried to reform how state aid is spent on food to encourage healthier food purchases.

But "it dies a lot of times because manufacturers of junk food advocate it," she said.

Regardless, health changes need to be made not just on a personal level, but a societal level, Huntley said.

"We have to get a mentality for people to think about these types of things," he said.

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Jared Taylor covers law enforcement and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4439.