Diabetes Information - Diabetes Treatment - Diabetes Control - Healthy Life

Diabetes is more prevalent than ever and 95% of cases diagnosed are type 2 diabetes.

Although for some the development of diabetes is inevitable, perhaps due to heriditery and other factors, for the vast majority it can be prevented by taking these 7 simple steps…

Before diabetes type 2 becomes fully developed you go through a stage known as pre-diabetes.  This is where you start to show some of the symptoms, which if ignored, can lead to full blown diabetes.

Make these 7 action points part of your daily routine and you could stop this disease happening to you:

1) If you are overweight you risk developing diabetes.  Reduce the amount of food on your plate so you gradually eat less and start to lose weight.  Drink a glass of plain water or a sugar-free drink before your meal to take the edge of any hunger pains.

2) Reduce the amount of fat you are eating; grill or bake foods instead of frying; use low-fat spreads and reduced fat meals.

3) Check the Glycemic Index of the food you are eating - knowing what each food contains helps maintain your blood-sugars, which in turn can prevent the full onset of diabetes.

4) Drink at least 8 glasses of water every day. If you keep a bottle of water with you and sip frequently you’ll be surprised how much you do drink throughout the day.

5) If you are feeling peckish choose a healthy snack rather than a chocolate bar.

6) Use skimmed rather than full-fat milk in hot drinks.

7) Exercise is good for health.  But if you are not use to exercise then start in moderation.  15 minutes gentle walking each day will ease you into a regular exercising pattern.

All of these action points are also the ones that diabetics are advised to take - if you take them now you might possibly prevent irreparable damage to your health.

Diabetes is a group of associated diseases in which the body is unable to regulate the amount of sugar (glucose) into the blood. The cells does not respond in type2 diabetes. In this type of case the blood sugar levels gets too high instigating prolonged severe complications. Researchers have identified various genes related with the growth of type 1 diabetes. The customary belief about the etiology, cause, of type 1 diabetes is that although someone may have a genetic inclination for developing type 1 diabetes, environmental triggers such as virus, toxin, drug are responsible to initiate the autoimmune process which causes type 1 diabetes by destroying insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells.

Type 1 Diabetes influences only 5 % of all diabetics. By the researchers point of view it is by far the worst of the two types. In type 1 the cells which create insulin are destroyed - an autoimmune reaction causing dependence on outside sources of insulin. Up till now there is no clinical cure for type 1 diabetes.

In type 2 diabetes the cell receptors that respond to insulin either do not work completely or not causing insulin resistance up to the mark. The most frequent and common risk factors for Type 2 Diabetes are age factor, inactive lifestyle and being overweighed. Heredity also plays the vital role in it

Type 2 Diabetes is given the name as the disease of lifestyle. Certainly it is seen in lot of people, as you go older day by day your metabolism slows down, you start gaining weight, and as a result you are less active and more sedentary-an obvious reasons for the disease.

Genetics: A Risk Factor Diabetes
It is seen that native people with high percentage of Indian blood are more often to develop diabetes. There is no certain reason that why this genetic disorder occurs, but one theory is that at one time when food was not in plenty, the body adjusted for these incline times by storing extra fat for this purpose.

The Other Factors:
If you have been detected with any problems with your circulation, had an heart attack or a stroke, or if you have got high blood pressure you may be at an increased risk of diabetes or it may be the dawn of this disease in you.

Pregnant women can build up a short-term type of diabetes – gestational diabetes. Having this symptoms and delivering a large baby, can boost the risk of a woman going to develop severe diabetes in the future.

Risk Factors Controlled By You:
Family history: In this type of case risk of having diabetes is high, if you have a close relative such as parent, brother, or sister with diabetes. Gestational diabetes, or delivered a baby who weighs more than 9 pounds. Women who have diabetes during pregnancy or have a large baby are at larger risk for diabetes later in future, usually type 2 diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes is the most common of the three major types and accounts for between 85 - 95% of all people with diabetes. Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body can still make some insulin, but not enough, or when the insulin that is produced does not work properly.

Without enough insulin, the glucose stays in blood. Over time, having too much glucose in blood can cause serious problems. It can damage eyes, kidneys, and nerves. Diabetes can also cause heart disease, stroke and even the need to remove a limb.

Type 2 diabetes is usually first treated by increasing physical activity, decreasing carbohydrate intake, and losing weight. These can restore insulin sensitivity even when the weight loss is modest, for example around 5 kg (10 to 15 lb), most especially when it is in abdominal fat deposits.

It is sometimes possible to achieve long-term, satisfactory glucose control with these measures alone. However, the underlying tendency to insulin resistance is not lost, and so attention to diet, exercise, and weight loss must continue. The usual next step, if necessary, is treatment with oral antidiabetic drugs.

Insulin production is initially only moderately impaired in type 2 diabetes, so oral medication (often used in various combinations) can be used to improve insulin production (e.g. sulfonylureas), to regulate inappropriate release of glucose by the liver and attenuate insulin resistance to some extent (e.g. metformin), and to substantially attenuate insulin resistance (e.g.thiazolidinediones). According to one study, overweight patients treated with metformin compared with diet alone, had relative risk reductions of 32% for any diabetes endpoint, 42% for diabetes related death and 36% for all cause mortality and stroke. Oral medication may eventually fail due to further impairment of beta cell insulin secretion. At this point, insulin therapy is necessary to maintain normal or near normal glucose levels.

Type 2 Diabetes Symptoms :

People with type 2 diabetes may :

* cuts or bruises that heal slowly
* a lot of infections
* skin, gum, or bladder infections that keep coming back
* tingling or numbness in the hands or feet
* urinate often
* be very thirsty
* be very hungry
* be very tired
* lose a lot of weight
* have blurred vision
* be irritable
* have trouble seeing