Entertainer Drew Carey has been making folks laugh for years – first as the star The Drew Carey Show and currently as the host of The Price is Right. However, behind the scenes, one aspect of Carey’s life has been decidedly unfunny for some time.

It turns out the comedian, like six million other Americans, was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and placed on prescription medications to control his blood sugar levels.

This form of diabetes (also called diabetes mellitus type 2 or DM-2) makes up about 90 percent of all diabetes cases worldwide. It results when the body can’t effectively use the insulin (the hormone that regulates blood sugar) it produces. On the other hand, the less common type1 diabetes, formerly known as insulin-depended or juvenile diabetes, occurs when the pancreas can’t produce enough insulin; this serious disease requires daily administration of the hormone.

While type 1 diabetes is believed to be an autoimmune condition, type 2 primarily results from being overweight and not getting enough exercise. Until recently, that described Carey to a T.

After dropping about 80 pounds over six months by eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly, the comedian recently revealed in a People magazine interview that he no longer has signs and symptoms of type 2 diabetes. In fact, he doesn’t even need diabetes medication to control his blood sugar any more.

Fortunately, Drew Carey’s story is anything but unique. Mounting research shows that some simple lifestyle strategies can help prevent, control, and possibly reverse type 2 diabetes – or at least reduce or eliminate the need for medication and help avoid serious and potentially life-threatening complications.

Know the symptoms and get tested

Rene J. Harper, M.D, Associate Professor of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at the Medical College of Georgia tells Synergy that symptoms of type 2 diabetes like increased thirst and urination and increased appetite may be similar to those of Type 1 diabetes, but are often less marked. Other symptoms that may indicate a high blood glucose level include blurred vision, lower extremity numbness, and frequent infections (especially, yeast infections).

Since symptoms of type 2 diabetes are often subtle, the disease may not be diagnosed until several years after onset -- and only after a person has complications. Unfortunately, those complications can be serious and even deadly.

"DM-2 is strongly associated with many serious complications, including vascular disease such as heart attacks, strokes, peripheral vascular disease (PVD, also described as "poor circulation"), and diseases of the eye (retinopathy), kidneys (nephropathy) and nervous system (neuropathy)," Dr. Harper says. "Untreated or poorly-controlled DM-2 is one of the most important contributors to death from heart disease or other vascular diseases, and one of the most significant risk factors for blindness, chronic kidney disease (requiring hemodialysis or a kidney transplant), and limb amputations in the U.S." To avoid these problems, if you are overweight and physically inactive -- even if you have no symptoms of type 2 diabetes -- make sure you are tested for the disease at your next physical. In fact, Dr. Harper notes the 2010 American Diabetes Association (ADA) guidelines recommend screening of adults of any age who are overweight or obese and who have one or more additional risk factors for type 2 diabetes (such as having a relative with the disease). Even without any risk factors, blood tests to detect diabetes should begin at age 45, he says.

Prevention and control

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC), World Health Organization (WHO) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) have all issued warnings that type 2 diabetes is a worldwide epidemic. However, recognizing the causes and symptoms and taking action on a personal level by living a healthy lifestyle can help stop the disease.

Dr. Harper tells Synergy that maintaining your ideal body weight, being physically active and eating a healthy diet that avoids high fat content and refined carbohydrates can go far in preventing the development of type 2 diabetes in the first place. Even if you already seem to be headed toward developing the disease, there are ways to stop or delay it.

"Individuals with impaired fasting glucose (IFG), which is fasting plasma glucose levels between 100-125 mg/dL, are referred to as having pre-diabetes and have a relatively higher risk for the future development of DM-2. Structured lifestyle interventions, with goals of a 5 to 10 percent weight loss and moderate physical activity (about 30 minutes a day), and certain medications have been demonstrated to prevent or delay the development of DM-2 in people with IFG," he says.

If you already have type 2 diabetes, Dr. Harper offers this advice:

• Receive medical care from a physician-coordinated team. Any treatment plans should provide adequate diabetes self-management education (DSME), appropriate patient self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG), and ongoing diabetes support.
• Get individualized medical nutrition therapy to achieve treatment goals, preferably provided by a registered dietitian.
• For overweight and obese insulin-resistant individuals, even modest weight loss has been shown to reduce insulin resistance and improve glucose control.
• For weight loss, low-carbohydrate or low-fat calorie-restricted diets (with low glycemic index foods), along with increased physical activity and behavior modification can help.

Dr. Harper points out that everyone diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should implement lifestyle changes and in some patients these may be sufficient to control blood glucose levels. He recommends a trial period of up to six months with monitoring of blood glucose and evaluation to see if medical therapy with oral or injectable drugs is needed if diet and exercise alone can control blood sugar.

Some physicians would say Drew Carey’s success shows type 2 diabetes can sometimes be cured through lifestyle changes, although Dr. Harper is cautious: "Many clinicians would not consider this a ‘cure’, but disease that is adequately controlled – that is, you still have the disease, but if blood glucose values are normal you will avoid the complications."

New research, new hope

Scientists are learning that a host of additional lifestyle and dietary choices may impact type 2 diabetes:

• A study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine concluded that 56 percent of people with type 2 diabetes who followed the Mediterranean diet (eating fruits, vegetables, grains, olive oil, nuts, poultry, and fish) for five years were able to manage their diabetes without drugs.
• University of Pittsburgh researchers found that women who breastfeed are half as likely to develop type 2 diabetes as women who do not, probably because nursing moms lose the abdominal fat they gain during pregnancy more efficiently.
• Several studies suggest both green tea and resveratrol (a phytochemical found in red grapes, grape juice, and red wine) reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
• Harvard School of Public Health investigators have discovered eating two or more servings of brown rice per week slashes the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
• Researchers from Baltimore’s Sinai Hospital have linked low vitamin D levels to poor blood sugar control and suggest that vitamin D deficiency may cause or promote diabetes.

Sherry Baker is a writer from Atlanta, Georgia. She last wrote The Buzz On Energy Drinks, They're Legal, But Are They Safe? Sherry can be reached at featuredstories@adamcorp.com