Type 2 Diabetes: What Happens If Symptoms Go Undetected? How To Avoid Dangerous Outcome | Health | Life & Style | Express.co.uk

Type 2 diabetes: What happens if symptoms go undetected? How to avoid dangerous outcome | Health | Life & Style | Express.co.uk

Diabetes: What happens if symptoms go undetected?
High glucose levels can damage blood vessels, nerves and organs
Often symptoms may seem harmless, but the NHS, which outlines these symptoms to watch out for, also warns what untreated diabetes can lead to.
The public health service says: High glucose levels can damage blood vessels, nerves and organs.
Even a mildly raised glucose level that doesnt cause any symptoms can have long-term damaging effects.
From diabetic retinopathy to kidney disease, these are just a few of the complications that can arise if diabetes is left untreated.
Diabetes: Feeling very thirsty and tired are symptoms
Diabetes: Untreated diabetes can lead to other serious conditions
The likelihood of you developing heart disease or stroke is five times bigger if you have diabetes.
The NHS says: Prolonged, poorly controlled blood glucose levels increase the likelihood of atherosclerosis, where the blood vessels become clogged up and narrowed by fatty substances.
This may result in poor blood supply to your heart, causing angina, which is a dull, heavy or tight pain in the chest. It also increases the chance that a blood vessel in your heart or brain will become blocked, leading to a heart attack or stroke.
This is when the retina, the light-sensitive layer of tissue at the back of the eye, becomes damaged.
The NHS says: Blood vessels in the retina can become blocked or leaky, or can grow haphazardly. This prevents light fully passing through to your retina. If it isnt treated, it can damage your vision.
Diabetes: High glucose levels can damag Continue reading

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Regular, early lifestyle changes key to reducing type 2 diabetes & cardiovascular disease

Regular and early lifestyle changes key to reducing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease in young South Asians, study suggests
Regular and early one-to-one educational sessions on healthy diet and lifestyle could reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD) in young South Asians, a new research published today in BMC Medicine suggests.
Unlike previous studies which have focussed on high risk older people, researchers from King's College London and the Diabetes Association of Sri Lanka looked at almost 4000 people aged between 5 and 40. The results suggest regular and realistic interventions with high risk younger people - especially if done before 18- may be more successful, and cost-effective than less-intensive and irregular sessions.
Asia is a major site of Type 2 diabetes, accounting for 60 per cent of people with the disease worldwide. South Asians are predisposed to develop the disease early on, with a third of future cases predicted to occur in those aged below 45 years old.
Participants in the study from Colombo, Sri Lanka had been screened out of a total of 23,298 people, and identified as being at a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes and CVD, but not yet diagnosed. Out of the 4672 participants aged between five and 40 who began the study, 3539 were eligible for analysis after three years.
Participants were randomised into two groups; pragmatic lifestyle modification (P-LSM) programme and control lifestyle modification programme (C-LSM). There were no significant differences in age, gender, clinical or biochemical char Continue reading

The Future of Diabetes Management

One in eleven persons has to cope with diabetes worldwide on a daily basis
According to the latest estimates of the WHO, 422 million people suffer from diabetes worldwide – and the number is growing steadily. It means that one person in eleven has to manage the chronic condition on a daily basis, which might lead to stroke, blindness, heart attack, kidney failure or amputation. There are two types of diabetes: when the body does not produce enough insulin (type 1 diabetes) and when the organism cannot utilize the generated insulin (type 2 diabetes). While the latter can be prevented with conscious lifestyle choices, the former is a mystery to the medical community. But if someone has diabetes, that means having a constant companion.
In both cases, the treatment of the symptoms requires constant blood glucose control, which usually requires a kind of insulin intake at regular intervals, as well as blood pressure control and/or foot care. It is a truly technologically dependent condition: you need to monitor your blood glucose level, your blood pressure, your weight, follow a meal plan, test your blood every now and then. Luckily, there are so many digital health innovations for diabetes patients out there that diabetes management has been improving for years steadily – and it will significantly change in the coming years.
But technology in itself is insufficient: you need people to utilize it – and diabetes patients do. It is one of the largest and most motivated communities both online and offline, sharing their experiences on social media and other platforms. I belie Continue reading

Is global warming driving diabetes?

Global warming could be fanning the worldwide diabetes epidemic, according to a study published this week in the journal BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care. However, it’s a conclusion that has been questioned by others in the field.
The researchers, led by Lisanne Blauw of the Department of Medicine at Leiden University Medical Centre in Germany, found that a 1°C rise in ambient temperature could be responsible for 100,000 annual cases of diabetes in the US alone.
Diabetes affects 415 million people across the globe. The condition is a major cause of stroke, kidney disease and heart attack. The World Health Organisation (WHO) predicts it will be the seventh highest cause of death by 2030.
To arrive at their unsettling conclusion, Blauw’s team analysed data from the US Diabetes Surveillance System across all US states and territories between 1996 and 2000, and from 190 countries included in the WHO Global Health Observatory.
The authors used data on mean annual temperature from the US National Centre for Environmental Information and the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia. They found that for every 1°C rise in temperature the US incidence of diabetes rose by 0.314 cases per 1000 people and the global prevalence of glucose intolerance went up by 0.17%, or 1.7 per 1000 people. The results held after adjusting for the effects of obesity.
But how could a warming planet possibly make diabetes worse? The researchers speculate that it might all come down to a little known site of body fat storage called brown adipose tissue (BAT). In cold weather BAT gets Continue reading

What Is Diabetes?

Diabetes and the Balance of Glucose and Insulin
Diabetes is a disorder that affects the way your body uses food for energy. Normally, the sugar you take in is digested and broken down to a simple sugar, known as glucose. The glucose then circulates in your blood where it waits to enter cells to be used as fuel.
Insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas, helps move the glucose into cells. A healthy pancreas adjusts the amount of insulin based on the level of glucose.
But, if you have diabetes, this process breaks down, and blood sugar levels become too high.
There are two main types of full-blown diabetes. People with type 1 diabetes are completely unable to produce insulin. People with type 2 diabetes can produce insulin, but their cells don't respond to it. In either case, the glucose can't move into the cells and blood glucose levels can become high. Over time, these high glucose levels can cause serious complications.
Pre-Diabetes
Pre-diabetes, now usually spelled prediabetes, means that the cells in your body are becoming resistant to insulin, or your pancreas is not producing as much insulin as required. Your blood glucose levels are higher than normal, but not high enough to be called diabetes. This is also known as "impaired fasting glucose" or "impaired glucose tolerance". A diagnosis of pre-diabetes is a warning sign that diabetes will develop later.
The good news: You can prevent the development of type 2 diabetes by losing weight, making changes in your diet and exercising.
Type 1 Diabetes
A person with type 1 diabetes can't make any insulin. Type 1 most often Continue reading