By Doyin Ojosipe
Experts have advised that only a healthy living life style could help prevent diabetes as such and help keep blood sugar level in control. This is even as the world celebrated its World Diabetes Day (WDD), which holds every 14th of November.
A Mayo clinic staff has further advised that in order to prevent the epidemic, one must engage in more physical activity, eat more fiber related food, feed on whole grain, lose extra weight and skip fad diets.
According to World Health Organization, “Diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs either when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces. Insulin is a hormone that regulates blood sugar. Hyperglycemia, or raised blood sugar, is a common effect of uncontrolled diabetes and over time leads to serious damage to many of the body’s systems, especially the nerves and blood vessels.”
In a recent report by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), over 5million deaths traced to the disease was recorded in 2013, while, a death is recorded at every six seconds from diabetes, in totality WHO reports that about 347 people in the world have diabetes, but may increase to 592 million in 2035 if not checked.
In the IDF report, no country seem to have been able to escape the epidemic despite their urban impact, in fact, people who are disadvantaged are at a higher risk, it said about 80% of people with diabetes live in low and middle income countries, ” in states and territories worldwide, it is the poor and disadvantaged who are suffering most. Indigenous communities are among those especially vulnerable to diabetes.”
The IDF also noted that while people living with diabetes are vulnerable to developing a number of complicated health problems, “poorly managed diabetes leads to serious complications and early death.”
The type 2 diabetes which is not easily discovered because it takes years for symptoms to be obvious is said to be the most common as it is more noticeable with adults; this condition is reported to be a stage where the body is insulin resistant as the body finds it difficult to absolve. At this stage the body may have been damaged by excess blood glucose.
According to experts, while it is difficult to establish the exact reason for this kind of diabetes, it is paramount to know the some risk factors attributed to development of the epidemic.
Such factors are, “obesity, poor diet, physical inactivity, advancing age, family history of diabetes. Ethnicity and high blood glucose during pregnancy affecting the unborn child,”
Experts have also explained that diabetes complication could lead to cardiovascular disease, Kidney disease, Eye disease and Nerve damage.
