Week 10

Diabetes in the United States

Jacqueline Nosrati

Overview

Diabetes is becoming more common in American society for reasons such as increasing obesity and certain lifestyle changes. Today people tend to have much more hectic lives, work longer, and have changes in family roles. In today’s day and age everthing has to be fast and convenient for consumers, with ever-evolving technology and soon with self-driving cars that reduce physical activity among people in order to achieve something faster than before. Additionally, consumers turn to fast and inexpensive foods that have high calorie and/or sugar content and have increasingly easier access to fast food(Welch 2003).

In this week’s assignment I will examine adult diabetes rates in the U.S. across different states and counties. In addition, I will look at the ratio of soda prices to the national average and fast food expenditures per capita to see whether there is relationship between these two variables and diabetes rates.

Literature Review

Going through the literature, there were two findings. First, a 2015 study looked at comsumption of sugar-containing drinks by region and found that 64% of US adults drink sugar-containing drink once or more everyday. The chances of drinking a sugar-containing drink once or more per day are higher in the Northeast region than in the Midwest and West regions(Park, McGuire, and Galuska 2015). Second, a 2012 study from California found that sugar amounts in food and drinks have statistically significant effects on diabetes, while keeping other variables such as other food types(Basu et al. 2013).

Data & Variables

To study diabetes rates I will use data from the 2014 Food Environment Atlas data set, which is offered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and contains data on food access, food prices, health and SES. I selected the following variables:

• PCT_DIABETES_ADULTS10: This variable shows the percentage of adults with diabetes in 2010 for each county and state. I chose this variable as my overall topic of interest. I expect that diabetes is more common in larger cities where people have more access to sodas and fast food and where the weather is colder (specifically, East Coast).

• SODA_PRICE10: This variable shows the ratio of soda prices to the national average for 2010. I chose this variable because it is known that excessive sugar consumption can lead to diabetes. I expect that those states with lower soda price ratios tend to have a higher percentage of individuals with diabetes.

• PC_FFRSALES07: This variable shows the Fast Food Expenditures per capita in dollars. I chose this variable because it is also known that excessive fast food consumption can lead to diabetes. I expect that those states with higher fast food expenditures tend to have higher diabetes rates.

To analyze US diabetes rates, data was merged with a map of the United States on a county-level. In this case, the states of Hawaii and Alaska were excluded.

US Diabetes Rates

Looking at the map, we see that the highest diabetes rates (15 to 20%) can be found more in the Northeast and Southeast regions, specifically in Missisipi, Alabama, and South Carolina. In the Northern region there is one outlier with 15 to 20% diabetes, which is in South Dakota. This seems to confirm the hypothesis that areas with larger cities (the Northeast) and colder weather tend to have higher diabetes rates.

Soda Prices to National Average Ratios

Looking at the soda price ratios, we see that the highest soda prices are in Washington, Oregon, and California. Additionally, the lowest soda prices are again in the Northeast and Southeast. This seems to confirm the hypothesis that states with lower diabetes rates tend to have higher soda prices and states with lower soda prices have higher diabetes rates.

Fast Food Expenditures per Capita

When looking at fast food expenditures per capita in dollars we see that the state with the highest fast food expenditure is Nevada (with 1000 and 1100 dollars). This is followed by California, Oregon, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. Interestingly, Nevada confirms the hypothis that the state with the highest fast food expenditures per capita, tends to to have one of the highest diabetes rates.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we see that diabetes rates are the highest in the North and Southeast regions and that soda prices do affect diabetes rates so that states with higher soda prices tend to have lower diabetes rates. Finally, we can see that in the case of Nevada that fast food expenditures per capita affect diabetes rates somewhat by stating that higher expenditures means higher diabetes rates. This conclusion can help organizations explain diabetes in United States and factors that affect those rates.

Bibliography

Basu, Sanjay, Paula Yoffe, Nancy Hills, and Robert H Lustig. 2013. “The Relationship of Sugar to Population-Level Diabetes Prevalence: An Econometric Analysis of Repeated Cross-Sectional Data.” PloS One 8 (2). Public Library of Science: e57873.

Park, Sohyun, Lisa C McGuire, and Deborah A Galuska. 2015. “Regional Differences in Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Intake Among Us Adults.” Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics 115 (12). Elsevier: 1996–2002.

Welch, Garry. 2003. “Spending in the Us on Advertising for Fast Foods, Sodas, and Automobiles.” Diabetes Care 26 (2). Am Diabetes Assoc: 546–46.