Diabetes is a disease that occurs when your blood glucose, also called blood sugar, is too high. Blood glucose is your main source of energy and comes from the food you eat. Insulin, a hormone made by the pancreas, helps glucose from food get into your cells to be used for energy. Sometimes your body doesn’t make enough or any insulin or doesn’t use insulin well. Glucose then stays in your blood and doesn’t reach your cells.
Over time, having too much glucose in your blood can cause health problems. Although diabetes has no cure, you can take steps to manage your diabetes and stay healthy!!
The most common types of diabetes are type 1, type 2, and gestational diabetes.
If you have type 1 diabetes, your body does not make insulin. Your immune system attacks and destroys the cells in your pancreas that make insulin. Type 1 diabetes is usually diagnosed in children and young adults, although it can appear at any age. People with type 1 diabetes need to take insulin every day to stay alive.
If you have type 2 diabetes, your body does not make or use insulin well. You can develop type 2 diabetes at any age, even during childhood. However, this type of diabetes occurs most often in middle-aged and older people. Type 2 is the most common type of diabetes.
Gestational diabetes develops in some women when they are pregnant. Most of the time, this type of diabetes goes away after the baby is born. However, if you’ve had gestational diabetes, you have a greater chance of developing type 2 diabetes later in life. Sometimes diabetes diagnosed during pregnancy is actually type 2 diabetes.
The estimates in 2019 showed that 77 million individuals had diabetes in India, which is expected to rise to over 134 million by 2045. Approximately 57% of these individuals remain undiagnosed. Type 2 diabetes, accounts for a majority of the cases.
The aetiology of diabetes is believed to be multifactorial.
Non-modifiable risk factors like genetics, age, ethnicity, and family history have been prospectively associated with type 2 diabetes.
The increases in prevalence in most populations have probably been driven by modifiable risk factors like a sedentary lifestyle and/or lack of exercise, increasing prevalence of overweight/obesity, unhealthy diets (increased intake of refined grains, fat, sugar, and sweetened beverages and decreased intake of fruits and vegetables) and habits (smoking and alcohol abuse), exposure to environmental pollutants, altered intrauterine environment and mental health (stress/depression), short sleep duration.
Diabetes symptoms depend on how high your blood sugar is. Some people, especially if they have prediabetes or type 2 diabetes, may not have symptoms. In type 1 diabetes, symptoms tend to come on quickly and be more severe.
Some of the symptoms of type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes are:
Over time, diabetes can damage the heart, blood vessels, eyes, kidneys, and nerves.
Lifestyle measures have been shown to be effective in preventing or delaying the onset of type 2 diabetes. To help prevent type 2 diabetes and its complications, people should:
Early diagnosis can be accomplished through relatively inexpensive testing of blood glucose.
Treatment of diabetes involves diet and physical activity along with lowering blood glucose and the levels of other known risk factors that damage blood vessels. Tobacco use cessation is also important to avoid complications.
Interventions that are both cost-saving and feasible in low- and middle-income countries include:
For some people, diabetes awareness may be about the prevention of the onset of the condition. Healthy eating and more active lifestyles can ward off type 2 diabetes induced by being overweight!
Knowledge is power and by raising awareness about diabetes many great things can be achieved for us all.
This post was last modified on November 14, 2022 9:05 pm