As a diabetes specialist, I’ve treated thousands of patients, some in Beverly Hills and some in East Los Angeles. My Beverly Hills patients live to become healthy 80- and 90-year-olds. I can’t remember when my last patient from this community lost their vision, had an amputation or started dialysis.
Almost none have heart attacks or strokes. But in under-resourced parts of East L.A.
I see people every week in their 40s and 50s who have developed life-altering, preventable diabetes complications — blindness, kidney failure, the loss of a limb. These patients rarely live to grow old. Obesity is one of the drivers of this heartbreaking disparity.
Health-conscious Beverly Hills is replete with doctors’ offices, fresh food and gyms. Most residents there can spend what they need to maintain a healthy diet and get help to control diabetes. In East Los Angeles, where for some a home refrigerator can be a luxury, diabetes and obesity afflict thousands of families who depend on fast and processed food to provide the affordable calories they need to survive.
The tale of these two neighborhoods is replicated across the country. Obesity kills 300,000 Americans annually. It is associated with increased risk of more than 200 other diseases , including heart disease, diabetes, cancer and dementia.
According to modeling by my colleagues at the USC Schaeffer Institute for Public Policy & Government Service, the average American will soon have obesity. Black and Latino individuals exper.
