Do you love fatty foods? Are you
overweight? Do you live sedentary lifestyle? Do you engage in
binge-drinking? Do you urinate frequently? Are you always thirsty and
hungry? Are you the first born child?
If you answer ‘yes’ to more than one or
all of these questions, then you might be or
stand a risk of being
diabetic. So say researchers in the field of diabetes, a debilitating,
life-long disease in which there are high levels of sugar in the blood.
Diabetes, often referred to by doctors as diabetes mellitus,
describes a group of metabolic diseases in which an individual has high
blood sugar, either because insulin production is inadequate, or
because the body’s cells do not respond properly to insulin, or both.
Physicians say patients with high blood sugar will typically experience frequent urination (polyuria), they will become increasingly thirsty (polydipsia) and hungry (polyphagia).
Three types
According to the Medical Director of
Rainbow Specialist Medical Centre, Lekki Phase1, Lagos, Dr. Afokoghene
Isiavwe, there are three types of diabetes: Type 1, Type 2 and
gestational diabetes.
She explains, “In the case of Type 1
diabetes, the body does not produce insulin and people usually develop
it before their 40th year, often in early adulthood or teenage years.”
She notes that Type 1 diabetes is not as
common as Type 2 diabetes, and that approximately 10 per cent of all
diabetes cases are Type 1.”
Again, she says, symptoms of Type 1
diabetes develop over a short period of time and people may be very sick
by the time they are diagnosed.
As for Type 2 diabetes, she says the body
does not produce enough insulin for proper function, or the cells in
the body are insulin resistant. “Approximately 90 per cent of all cases
of diabetes worldwide are of this type,” she says.
Again, a 2011 study led by the Director
of the Center for Nanomedicine, Dr. Jamey D. Marth, found that eating
fatty foods leads to obesity, which can trigger Type 2 diabetes.
Isiavwe warns that Type 2 diabetes is
typically a progressive disease, as it gradually gets worse and the
patient will probably end up having to take insulin, usually in tablet
form.
The third type of diabetes is gestational
diabetes. Doctors say this affects females during pregnancy. “Some
women have very high levels of glucose in their blood, and their bodies
are unable to produce enough insulin to transport all of the glucose
into their cells, resulting in progressively rising levels of glucose,”
they say.
American scientists from the National
Institutes of Health and Harvard University found that women whose diets
before being pregnant were high in animal fat and cholesterol had a
higher risk for gestational diabetes, compared to those whose diets were
low in cholesterol and animal fats.
Diet and weight
According to medicalnewstoday.com,
overweight and obese people have a much higher risk of developing Type 2
diabetes, compared to those with a healthy body weight.
Physicians also warn that the risk of
developing Type 2 diabetes is greater as we get older. Experts are not
completely sure why, but say that as we age, we tend to put on weight
and become less physically active. And, as fearful as it is, physicians
say because Type 2 diabetes develops slowly, some people with high blood
sugar have no symptoms.
First born
But if being diabetic can be controlled
via lifestyle choices, what choice has an individual who is the first
child in the family? Here is the puzzle: A new study from New Zealand
finds firstborn children have reduced insulin effectiveness — a known
risk factor for diabetes — and higher blood pressure, compared to
children who have older siblings.
Wayne Cutfield, of the University of
Auckland, and colleagues write about their study, thought to be the
first to find a 21 per cent drop in insulin sensitivity among firstborn
children, in the January 30 edition of Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
The researchers say, “Although birth
order alone is not a predictor of metabolic or cardiovascular disease,
being the first-born child in a family can contribute to a person’s
overall risk.”
They suggest that the differences in
insulin sensitivity and blood pressure could be due to changes that take
place in the uterus during a first pregnancy — changes that increase
the flow of nutrients to subsequent fetuses. However, they urge caution
in using these figures as an indication of lifetime risk.
Binge drinking
As for binge drinkers, it’s bad news all
the way. Binge drinking directly causes insulin resistance, which in
turn leads to Type 2 diabetes. The researchers say the study is the
first to show that binge drinking alone, separate from other factors
like overeating, increases risk for Type 2 diabetes.
Lead researcher and Associate Professor
of Medicine, Endocrinology, Diabetes and Bone Disease at the Diabetes
Obesity and Metabolism Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at
Mount Sinai, New York, Christoph Buettner, says, “Someone who regularly
binge drinks, even once a week, over many years, may remain in an
insulin-resistant state for an extended period of time, potentially
years.” He was quoted in the January 30 edition of the journal Science Translational Medicine.
Complications
After many years, diabetes can lead to
other serious problems, experts say. “You could have eye problems,
including trouble seeing (especially at night) and light sensitivity.
You could become blind. Your feet and skin can get painful sores and
infections. Sometimes, your foot or leg may need to be amputated. Nerves
in the body can become damaged, causing pain, tingling, and loss of
feeling. Because of nerve damage, you could have problems digesting
food. Nerve damage can also make it harder for men to have an erection,”
Isiavwe says.
Experts say early on in Type 2 diabetes,
you may be able to reverse the disease with lifestyle changes. Also,
they say, some cases of Type 2 diabetes can be cured with weight-loss
surgery. There is no cure for Type 1 diabetes, however.
To prevent diabetes complications, they advise, visit your doctor at least two to four times a year.
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