What is Type 2 diabetes?

India has been designated the ‘Diabetes Capital’ of the world with the maximum number of cases of diabetes and an equally large number of undetected cases. 

What is Type 2 diabetes?

Diabetes is a disease in which sugar builds up in the blood.


Type 2 diabetes is the most common type of diabetes. In Type 2 diabetes, your body makes insulin, but the insulin is either not enough or the body cannot use it, so glucose from the blood which is very necessary for energy cannot be used by the cells.

Why does Type 2 diabetes occur?

Type 2 diabetes can occur due to excess weight, low levels of activity, carbohydrate rich diet, or genes that run in the family - the familial tendency for diabetes is passed on from one generation to the next through genes. This is transmitted to the offspring even if they were born before the parents developed diabetes.

Why do Indians have a tendency for  insulin resistance?
It could be

• Genetic,  

• Due to  physical inactivity, 

• Consuming excess calories, 

• Obesity, especially around the waist,  

• Use of large amounts of saturated fats  

• Low intake of fruit and vegetable in the Indian diet 

What are the symptoms of diabetes?

Frequent urination, increased thirst, increased appetite, loss of weight, frequent infections, blurred vision, feeling of tiredness or fatigue , a burning sensation in the feet, losing feeling in your feet or getting a tingling sensation in the feet… are all symptoms of diabetes. 

However, many people with diabetes do not show any of these signs. So don’t wait for them. Consult your doctor for screening for diabetes, if you are at risk.

Am I at risk for diabetes?

The following are some of the risk factors for Type 2 diabetes:

• Being overweight or obese.  

• Age — being older than 45 

• Inactivity — exercising less than 3 times a week  

• Family history — having a mother, father, brother, or sister with diabetes 

• Race— It is more common among people of African, Asian or Latin American origin 

• Having a baby with a birth weight more than 9 pounds
• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol
• Abnormal results in an earlier diabetes test
• Having a history of heart disease or stroke

Many people show no symptoms before they are diagnosed with diabetes. So, if you are in the high risk group, you should get yourself tested routinely.

What is pre- diabetes?

Pre-diabetes is a condition where your blood glucose is higher than normal but is lower than the diabetes range. This puts you at risk of getting Type 2 diabetes and heart disease. 

However, you can reduce the risk of getting diabetes and even return to normal blood glucose levels with reasonable weight loss and moderate physical activity.

• If you are diagnosed with pre- diabetes, lose weight (5-10 percent of total body weight) through diet and through moderate exercise, such as walking 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week. 

• Pre-diabetes increases your risk for heart disease or stroke by 50 percent; so stop using tobacco and alcohol, and control high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

• If your blood glucose levels are within the normal range, it is reasonable to be checked every 3 years. If you have pre-diabetes, follow your doctor’s advice to check for Type 2 diabetes. 

People with pre-diabetes don’t often have symptoms. Some people have no symptoms at all! 

Stress and diabetes 

Acute physical and mental stress affects blood glucose levels.

During stress times, the body increases the levels of other hormones which do not allowinsulin to work effectively on glucose.

Nowadays, young adults  are under tremendous stress at work because of  irregular timing, pressure of deadlines, irregular meals, working at night  and lack of  physical exercise.

People are very busy with their lives  and face a lot of stress, anxiety and have unhealthy food habits such as depending on fast foods and packaged foods.

Lack of physical activity in school children along with overeating, eating large amounts of high-calorie food and the stress of school seem to be the reason for large increase in cases of diabetes among children.

Over- feeding  by parents and the resulting obesity in childhood leads to obesity in adulthood. Overfed children, who don't play and spend too much time in front of the computer and TV are prone to diabetes.

Lifestyle, lack of exercise, high carbohydrate diet, abnormal cholesterol levels lead to early diabetes.

Prevention of Type 2 diabetes

Control  your  weight.

Eat healthy. Avoid high-calorie/high-fat and high sugar diets.  Replace white bread, pasta and white rice with brown rice, millets and whole grain flour. Eat a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables and replace red meat with fish or white meat. 

Be active. Half an hour of cardiovascular activity daily like running or swimming is good.

Be aware.  Health education should start from the school level. Schools should conduct workshops to make students aware about the disease.  

 

Nurture your children. Children should not be allowed to take junk food and should be encouraged to increase physical activity.

No smoking. Restrict alcohol

Prevent obesity, especially central obesity and increased visceral fat due to physical inactivity.

Prevention begins right from pregnancy. Studies have shown that if the mother is undernourished then the risk for diabetes in the off spring is great. And if the mother is optimally nourished you can reduce that risk to a large extent.

Regular heath check- up is a must because if diabetes remains undiagnosed it can lead to severe complications.