National Diabetes Month is an opportunity to review the risks of the disease.

Debbie Guild with Pella Regional Health Center says Type II diabetes and prediabetes symptoms most often develop over time as a result of diets rich in sugars and unprocessed carbohydrates, coupled with obesity and lack of exercise, which are factors that increase the overall risk of development. She says family history plays a key role as well, and it’s important to be screened regularly. Guild says over eight million people with diabetes go undiagnosed, which is 27 percent of all people with the disease in the United States.