Diabetes or sugar disease is becoming ever more common. There are 2 main types of diabetes, commonly referred to as adult type or Type 2 and the childhood type or Type 1. The adult type or Type 2 has increased exponentially in the last two decades. In fact, figures by WHO show that diabetes and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs) – like hypertension, obesity, asthma, and tumours – now cause as much ill-health and death as infectious diseases.
But what is behind this massive increase in diabetes and other non-communicable diseases?
The first reason is due to what is called demographic change. Compared to one hundred years ago, the population is getting older, public health measures like immunizations and curative medicines have reduced the prevalence rates of infectious diseases, and fertility levels have declined. All these have led to diabetes and other NCDs to become more prevalent.
The second reason is due to urbanization. Urbanization has led to physical inactivity, a poor diet that is high in saturated fats and high in salt. Many people in towns do not eat enough fresh fruits and love highly refined carbohydrates like breakfast shima and white bread, which lead to obesity, high amount of fats in the blood, and other NCDs. Then smoking is common, as is taking alcohol in excess, both leading to illnesses. Town life and its pressures also leads to high blood pressure.
The third reason is globalisation and the communication revolution. In this scenario, the internet revolution means that both good things and bad things spread very rapidly! Young minds are not able to differentiate what is good for them and what is bad and they end up picking up very bad habits from pervasive adverts on smoking and alcohol imbibition. Huge multinationals with billions of dollars for adverts and a lot of clout in forcing trade liberalisation internationally are also able to foist bad food products on poor countries.
These three reasons have led to the massive increase in diabetes and other NCDs in developing countries where they were quite rare a few decades ago.
A little more on adult type of diabetes, Type 2.
Certain people are more at risk of developing diabetes than others. There is a very strong genetic component. Those at risk include those with a first degree relative with the diseases, those women who have delivered babies weighing 4 kg and above, those who have had high blood sugar readings before, those who are lucky enough to reach and go beyond middle age, those who are overweight or obese, those who disdain physical activity or unable to exercise due to a variety or reasons, those who take drugs like steroids, and those who are stressed emotionally as well as stressed by having another medical problem like Covid-19 or another infection. Stress makes the body produce more sugar.
Adult diabetes causes about 95 percent of diabetes. It is equally common in men and women and can at times be found in children. It usually starts after the age of 32 years. The disease is usually insidious in onset. The common symptoms are blurred vision, frequent urination, increased thirst, dry mouth, weight loss, constant hunger, genito-tract/urinary tract infections, pain or numbness in the feet or legs and poor healing of sores.
In the next posting I shall talk about diagnosis and management of diabetes. I shall also explain why it is important to treat the disease.
Ciao!
