By Brenna Angel
Lexington, KY – More than 300,000 Kentuckians are diagnosed with diabetes, a disease that can cause blurred vision, fatigue, and high blood sugar. Even more people are pre-diabetic. Dr. Dennis Karounos of the American Diabetes Association Bluegrass Chapter is urging everyone to take a risk test.
"30% of the population in Kentucky is overweight with obesity, and 30% is inactive. So those are clearly risk factors. But my personal opinion is that smoking is also a big factor. We rank #2 in the country in tobacco use, and tobacco and nicotine actually decreases the action of your body's own insulin. So your own insulin becomes ineffective."
Tuesday is Diabetes Alert Day, an annual event designed to draw attention to the disease. Dr. Karounos says people at high risk for developing diabetes should have their plasma glucose checked.