BANGOR (AP) – The number of diabetics in Maine has doubled since 1994, and state officials are worried that inactivity and overeating are pushing rates up even more.

Figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that 3.4 percent of adult Mainers had been diagnosed with diabetes as of 1994. Within the last decade that figure has grown to 7.6 percent of adults across the state.

“This is a much bigger deal than people realize,” said Jim Leonard, director of Maine’s Diabetes Prevention and Control Program.

Maine is not alone in the battle against diabetes, which is the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States. In the last decade, 23 states have doubled their diabetes rates. Puerto Rico has the highest rate, at 10.8 percent, and Colorado has the lowest, at 4.8 percent.

The biggest increase is in Type 2 diabetes, the kind that is affected by overeating and lack of exercise, as well as heredity, Leonard said.

Dr. Dora Anne Mills, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, describes obesity in the state as an epidemic. She warns today’s youngsters to reduce their weight, saying obesity rates among children have nearly quadrupled in the last 30 years.

The doubling of Maine’s diabetes rate is “just the tip of the iceberg,” Mills said. “It’s one of the many problems associated with obesity.”

Without management of diabetes, the disease can cause serious health complications including blindness, kidney failure, nerve damage that sometimes requires amputations of lower extremities, and heart disease, which kills 75 percent of diabetics.

The good news is that studies show lifestyle changes can reduce a person’s chances of getting the disease and can reduce or eliminate treatments, Leonard said. Healthful eating and physical activity are the top two treatments for Type 2 diabetes, but oral medication, insulin, or both may be added to control blood glucose levels.

Type 1 diabetes, once referred to as “juvenile-onset” diabetes, accounts for 5 percent to 10 percent of all diagnosed cases of diabetes and occurs when the pancreas, which makes insulin, the hormone used by cells to get energy from food, does not work. Because the body doesn’t make insulin, Type 1 diabetics must inject insulin to regulate their sugar levels.

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