Diabetes a Serious Health Concern

The New York Times says that data from the International Diabetes Federation indicates that in the last 20 years, the number of people worldwide diagnosed with diabetes has increased from 30 million to 230 million. Of the ten countries with the highest number of people with the disease, seven are in the developing world. “Diabetes is one of the biggest health catastrophes the world has ever seen,” said Dr. Martin Silink, the federation’s president. “In some of the world’s poorest nations, the disease is a quick death sentence,” notes the report

The term “diabetes mellitus” comes from a Greek word meaning “to siphon” and a Latin word meaning “sweet like honey.” These words aptly describe the disorder, for water passes through the person who has diabetes as if it were being siphoned from the mouth through the urinary tract and right out of the body. Furthermore, the urine is sweet with sugar. In fact, prior to the discovery of more efficient techniques, one test for diabetes was to pour a patient’s urine near an anthill. If the insects were attracted, this indicated the presence of sugar.

The world is headed for “one of the biggest health catastrophes” it has ever seen, thanks to an alarming increase in diabetes, warns Britain’s Professor Sir George Alberti, president of the International Diabetes Federation (IDF). According to IDF figures, over 300 million people worldwide have impaired glucose tolerance, which often leads to diabetes, reports Britain’s Guardian newspaper. Type 2 diabetes, once affecting mainly older people, is now making inroads into the health of Britain’s young who have grown obese because of a diet of junk food and a lack of exercise. “The enormous frustration is that most of this [diabetes and its effects] is preventable through lifestyle,” says Alberti. Developing countries may also see diabetes soar as they adopt “the unhealthy diet and urban lifestyles of the affluent world,” comments The Guardian

What Is Diabetes?

Our bodies convert the food we eat into energy that we can use. This function is as essential as breathing. In the stomach and the intestines, food is broken down into more basic elements, including a type of sugar, glucose. The pancreas reacts to sugar by producing insulin, which helps the sugar pass into the body cells. Then the sugar can be burned for energy.

When a person has diabetes, either his pancreas does not produce enough insulin or his body does not utilize insulin well. As a result, the sugar in the bloodstream cannot pass into the body’s cells to be utilized. Explains the book Understanding Insulin Dependent Diabetes: “The blood sugar then rises to a high level and overflows through the kidney into the urine.” Untreated diabetics may experience frequent urination and other symptoms.

Type 1 Diabetes

This type of diabetes was previously known as juvenile diabetes, since it is the type found mostly in children and young adults. But it can afflict people of any age. While the cause of diabetes is not known, there are various factors that some believe are linked to Type 1 diabetes:

 1. Inheritance (genetic)

 2. Autoimmunity (the body becomes allergic to one of its own tissues or types of cells—in this case, in the pancreas)

 3. Environmental (viral or chemical)

It is possible that viral infections and other factors result in damage to islet cells (the groups of cells within the pancreas where the insulin is made). As more and more islet cells are destroyed, the person moves closer to having diabetes.

Diabetics exhibit a number of symptoms:

 1. Frequent urination

 2. Extreme thirst

 3. Frequent hunger; the body is hungry for the energy it isn’t getting

 4. Weight loss. When the body can’t get sugar into its cells, it burns its own fat and protein for energy, resulting in weight loss

 5. Irritability. If the diabetic is getting up frequently at night to urinate, he cannot sleep soundly. Behavior changes may result

In Type 1 diabetes, the pancreas is producing little or no insulin. In such cases, insulin must be taken daily, usually by injection (insulin is destroyed in the stomach if taken orally).

Type 2 Diabetes

Not to be confused with Type 1 diabetes, it is a condition in which the body is not producing enough insulin or is not using it efficiently. It is the most common type in adults over the age of 40 and tends to come on more gradually. There is a hereditary component to this illness, and it is often worsened by improper diet or by overweight. In many cases pills can be used, at least initially, to stimulate the pancreas to make more insulin. The pills are not insulin.

Dangers of Diabetes

The body needs fuel to keep it going. If it is unable to utilize glucose, it turns to body fats and protein. However, when the body burns fat, waste products called ketones are formed. Ketones build up in the blood and spill into the urine. Because these ketones are more acidic than healthy body tissues, high blood levels of ketones may lead to a serious condition called ketoacidosis.

It is also dangerous for a diabetic when his blood sugar falls below the normal range (hypoglycemia). The diabetic is alerted to this condition by unpleasant symptoms. He may feel shaky, sweaty, tired, hungry, irritable, or confused or have a rapid heartbeat, blurred vision, headaches, numbness, or tingling around the mouth and lips. He may even go into seizures or pass out. Proper diet and regulated eating times can often prevent such problems.

If the symptoms listed above do occur, taking in simple sugars, perhaps some fruit juice or glucose tablets, may bring the blood sugar back to a safer level until other food can be eaten. In severe cases, glucagon must be given by injection. This is a hormone that promotes the release of stored sugar from the liver, which will raise the blood sugar. The parent of a diabetic child would want to inform the child’s school and bus driver or day-care provider about the child’s condition.

Long-Term Complications

A person with diabetes may experience long-term complications, including heart attack, stroke, eye problems, kidney disease, foot or leg problems, and frequent infections. These complications are caused by damage to blood vessels, damage to nerves, and inability to fight infections. Not all diabetics, however, develop these long-term problems.

Keeping blood-sugar levels close to the normal range may delay or reduce the harmful effects of these complications. In addition, keeping weight and blood pressure levels in normal range and not smoking may be very effective ways to reduce risks. The diabetic must get plenty of exercise, maintain a proper diet, and stay on his prescribed medication

Diabetes a Serious Health Concern

How can amputation be prevented?

To prevent diabetes complications, make a commitment to managing your diabetes. Eat healthy foods, include physical activity in your daily routine and keep your blood sugar under control. Then put your best foot forward with these simple foot-care tips:

§ Wash your feet every day. Wash your feet in lukewarm water once a day. Dry them gently, especially between the toes. Sprinkle talcum powder or cornstarch between your toes to keep the skin dry. Use a moisturizing cream or lotion on the tops and bottoms of your feet to keep the skin soft.

§ Inspect your feet every day. Check your feet for blisters, cuts, sores, redness or swelling once a day. If you have trouble bending over, use a hand mirror to see the bottoms of your feet or ask someone to help you.

§ Trim your toenails carefully. Trim your nails straight across. If you have any nail problems or poor feeling in your feet, ask your doctor about professional nail trimming.

§ Don't go barefoot. Protect your feet with comfortable socks and shoes, even indoors. Make sure new shoes fit well, too. Even a single blister can lead to an infection that won't heal.

§ Don't smoke or use other types of tobacco. Smoking reduces blood flow to your feet. Talk to your doctor about ways to quit smoking or to stop using other types of tobacco.

§ Schedule regular foot checkups. Your doctor can inspect your feet for early signs of nerve damage, poor circulation or other foot problems. Your doctor may refer you to a foot specialist (podiatrist).

§ Take foot injuries seriously. Contact your doctor if you have a sore or other foot problem that doesn't begin to heal within a few days. Your doctor may prescribe antibiotics to treat an infection. In other cases, infected tissue may be drained or removed. Sometimes surgery is needed to remove infected bone or increase blood flow to the affected area. Keep in mind that these wounds can take weeks or even months to heal. culled from Mayo Clinic website

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diabetes a serious health concern

In the United States, some 21 million people (7 percent of the population) suffer from diabetes mellitus. Every year, some 1.5 million people learn they have the disease. Diabetes mellitus kills more than 73,000 U.S. residents each year, making it the sixth leading cause of all deaths resulting from disease. In addition, diabetes is a contributing factor in many deaths from heart disease, kidney failure, and other conditions. Overall, experts estimate that diabetes contributes to about 225,000 deaths annually in the United States. In Canada, approximately 2.5 million residents (about 6 percent of the population) have diabetes mellitus. The disease ranks as the seventh leading cause of death in Canada, where it kills about 6,000 people a year. Diabetes and its complications contribute to about 25,000 deaths in Canada annually.

Diabetes is most common in adults over 45 years of age; in people who are overweight or physically inactive; in individuals who have an immediate family member with diabetes; and in people of African, Hispanic, and Native American descent. The highest rate of diabetes in the world occurs in Native Americans. More women than men have been diagnosed with the disease.

In diabetes mellitus low insulin levels or poor response to insulin prevent cells from absorbing glucose. As a result, glucose builds up in the blood. When glucose-laden blood passes through the kidneys, the organs that remove blood impurities, the kidneys cannot absorb all of the excess glucose. This excess glucose spills into the urine, accompanied by water and electrolytes—ions required by cells to regulate the electric charge and flow of water molecules across the cell membrane. This causes frequent urination to get rid of the additional water drawn into the urine; excessive thirst to trigger replacement of lost water; and hunger to replace the glucose lost in urination. Additional symptoms may include blurred vision, dramatic weight loss, irritability, weakness and fatigue, and nausea and vomiting

Are you Healthy?

Physical Fitness, ability of the human body to function with vigor and alertness, without undue fatigue, and with ample energy to engage in leisure activities, and to meet physical stresses. Muscular strength and endurance, cardiorespiratory integrity, and general alertness are the overt signs of physical fitness.

Physical fitness is usually measured in relation to functional expectations—that is, typically, by periodic tests measuring strength, endurance, agility, coordination, and flexibility. In addition, stress testing, which ascertains the body's accommodation to powerful, sustained physical stimuli, is used to analyze fitness. If individuals are able to accommodate to the stressors, they are assumed to be fit.

The level of physical fitness can be influenced by regular, systematic exercise. Moderate activity will maintain the individual at a level that is usually adequate to handle ordinary stress. If the fitness level is to be improved, however, it is necessary to participate in more intensive exercise that overloads the physiological systems and thus promotes change.

Laugh for your Health

The Power of Laughter

“Scientists have calculated that only half a minute of joyful laughter is worth 45 minutes of static rest,” reports the Polish weekly Przyjaciółka. “A spontaneous burst of laughter is comparable to three minutes of aerobic exercise, whereas ten warm smiles equal ten minutes of intensive rowing.” Other benefits of laughing include a threefold increase in the amount of air drawn into the lungs as well as improved circulation, digestion, metabolism, brain function, and elimination of harmful substances. The magazine suggests that to help put yourself in the right mood, you should smile at yourself, your mate, and your children first thing in the morning. “Learn to laugh at yourself,” it adds. “Try to find the good side of things even in difficult circumstances

Laughter—Still the Best Medicine!

“A dose of comedy taken daily for four weeks has now been found to reduce significantly the symptoms of depression,” reports The Independent of London. “Some of the patients who were told to spend 30 minutes a day listening to therapeutic tapes of comedians were cured, while others found that the severity of their symptoms had been halved.” More than 100 studies in the United States have indicated that laughter induced by humor can be beneficial. Not only people who are depressed but also those who had allergies, high blood pressure, weakened immune systems, and even cancer and rheumatoid arthritis have responded. Laughter has long been known to promote well-being, but just how is not clearly understood. Psychotherapist Dr. Ed Dunkleblau offers some cautionary advice though: Avoid abusive and sarcastic humor, and be careful about being too funny. Otherwise, the patient may feel that his problem is not being taken seriously.

For Better Health—Laugh!

Good-natured laughter does more than brighten a person’s day. According to some Japanese doctors, it also normalizes imbalances in the endocrine, nervous, and immune systems, stabilizes heartbeat and breathing, and can bring temporary relief to sufferers of rheumatism. Laughter stimulates sympathetic nerves, thereby boosting the blood flow to muscles and increasing brain activity. When we laugh heartily, we also exercise our muscles. In a test cited in the IHT Asahi Shimbun newspaper, one laughing subject’s abdominal muscles “showed the same level of exertion as required by sit-ups.” Osaka psychiatrist Michio Tanaka praised the positive influence of laughter. AcLaugh, and Live Longer?

It has long been believed that laughter is good medicine.

Ten years ago scientists at the State University of New York decided to find out why it is. They recently revealed their discovery that laughter helps trigger the release of powerful hormones that energize a person’s immune system. One group of hormones, called cytokines, has been found to promote the activity of white blood cells, which are needed to ward off viral and bacterial infections and which destroy potential cancer cells. These are just “one of the substances whose levels are increased by laughter,” says The Sunday Times of London. The link between laughter and cytokines has led some researchers to refer to them as happy hormones. Thus, the paper calls laughter “a recipe for a long life.”

cording to Tanaka, “it’s like an effective drug with no side effects.”