Celebrity chef and butter duchess Paula Deen announced Tuesday on NBC's "Today Show" that she has Type 2 diabetes.
Deen, 64, said she was diagnosed three years ago. She has now become a spokeswoman for pharmaceutical group Novo Nordisk to endorse its diabetes drug, Victoza. Victoza is injected once a day by Type 2 diabetes patients to control their blood sugar levels.
Critics pointed out that Deen continued to promote her Southern food after her diagnosis and came forward with the news the same day she announced her partnership with Novo Nordisk.
Kathryn Parker, director of the Shands at UF Diabetes Self-Management Program, thinks the criticism is ridiculous.
"I'm not sure what everyone's so mad about," Parker said. "She's working with a phenomenal pharmaceutical company, and if she can enlighten the 60 million Americans who don't know they have diabetes, then more power to her."
More than 28 million people know they have diabetes, Parker said, but the danger lies with those who are unaware that they are diabetic or pre-diabetic.
Unlike diseases with obvious physical symptoms, diabetes is silent and only surfaces during a complication, she said.
Though genetics plays a role in whether someone is at risk for diabetes, Parker said eating too much is the primary cause.
She said if a woman's waist is more than 35 inches or if a man's is more than 40 inches, he or she is at a higher risk for getting Type 2 diabetes.
Blake Livingston, 24, was born with Type 1 diabetes, which Parker said affects about 10 percent of diabetics. He said if Deen wants to keep her reputation and take the drug company's money, she needs to show healthy food options.
Livingston, a UF graduate student studying to become an acute care practitioner, said people need to get advice from their doctors instead of advertisements and broadcast personalities.
