Thesis Proposal final draft 1

Thesis Proposal According to the American Journal of Public Health, two thirds of Americans are overweight or obese. Obesity in the United States has doubled in adults and children over the past twenty years and 400,000 deaths each year are attributable to obesity (Bassett & Perl, 2004). One major result of the rise in obesity in the U.S. is the rise of Type 2 diabetes mellitus (adult-onset). An obese person gains a dysfunctional type of adipose tissue that lends itself to the development of diabetes (Sorisky, 2008). The rate of obesity has a direct correlation with the increase in type 2 diabetes incidences nationwide. From 1980 to 2003 the number of Americans diagnosed with diabetes rose from 5.8 to 14.7 million; however it is estimated that 5.2 million cases remain undiagnosed. Type 2 diabetes accounts for 90-95% of all diabetes cases diagnosed in the United States (Urrutia-Rojas & Menchaca, 2006).There are also many people who have impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), a pre-diabetic state in which a person’s body does not regulate glucose levels in the way that it should. Realizing the number of people in a pre-diabetic state is important to the focus of preventing the development of diabetes. Diabetes has been a growing problem in the U.S. for many years; complications from diabetes are now some of the leading causes of mortality in the United States. Research shows that diabetes causes blindness in 12,000 to 24,000 adults. Diabetes accounts for 40% of all new cases of kidney failure each year, making it the leading cause of kidney disease. Approximately 60-70% of those who have diabetes experience mild to severe forms of diabetic nerve damage, those who have nerve damage are 15 to 40 times more likely to suffer from neuropathy. Heart disease is a significant issue in those with diabetes and is the cause of about 75% of diabetes-related deaths (Liles & Juhnke, 2008). The primary populations at risk for developing Type 2 diabetes are African Americans,

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