More than 29 Million People in the U.S. Suffer from Diabetes: CDC

More than 29 million people in the U.S have diabetes, according to a latest statement released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The number of people living with diabetes has grown from 26 million in 2010 to 29 million now, CDC said in a statement. What's more is that one in four people don't know that they have diabetes.

Diabetes type-2 is a condition when the body can't control the levels of glucose in the blood.

Also, at least 86 million adults suffer from a condition called pre-diabetes, where the blood sugar levels are high but not high enough to be classified as diabetes type-2. People with pre-diabetes can lower risk of developing full-blown diabetes by reducing weight and following a healthy diet.

"These new numbers are alarming and underscore the need for an increased focus on reducing the burden of diabetes in our country," said Ann Albright, Ph.D., director of CDC's Division of Diabetes Translation, according to a news release.  "Diabetes is costly in both human and economic terms. It's urgent that we take swift action to effectively treat and prevent this serious disease."

The National Diabetes Statistics Report, 2014 was based on data collected in 2012. Researchers found that at least 1.7 million people were newly diagnosed with diabetes  in 2012 and that Non-Hispanic black, Hispanic, and American Indian/Alaska Native adults were twice as likely to be diagnosed with the condition as non-Hispanic whites.

Diabetes typ-2 is expensive. According to CDC, diabetes-related medical costs totalled some $245 billion in 2012 alone. In 2007, diabetes had cost U.S healthcare around $174 billion.

The condition leads to several other health problems. Previous research has shown that people with diabetes suffer from cognitive decline. People with diabetes also have increased risk of vision loss, heart disease, kidney failure, stroke and even premature death.