Popular TV chef Paula Deen announced today that she has had type 2 diabetes for nearly three years and plans to partner with Nodo Nordisk as their medication’s spokeswoman.
“It’s about heredity. It’s about age, lifestyle, race. I’m the only one in my family who has it,” said Deen. “My grandmother cooked and ate like I ate, and she didn’t have it.”
It has been found that blacks are affected by diabetes at a rate twice that of whites, and die from it twice as often. Type 2 diabetes is often diagnosed along with obesity. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, black children were 30 percent more likely to be overweight than non-Hispanic white children, causing increased risk for the disease.
Many black celebrities have gone public about their diabetes, connecting the disease to diet and unhealthy eating in the black community.
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