Tuesday , May 30 2023

Diabetes: the answers to the 5 most frequent doubts



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Diabetes is a serious life-long illness that can suffer.

It is estimated that 422 million people living with diabetes all over the world, four times more than 40 years ago, according to World Health Organization (WHO).

Diabetes occurs when the body can not process all of the sugar or glucose in the bloodstream.

Glucose is not bad, it is the fuel of all the cells in the body.

Some tissues, in order to use this glucose, need the action of insulin, which is a hormone produced by the pancreas and facilitates the entry of glucose into the cell and thus can convert glucose into energy.

Complications of diabetes can lead to heart attack, stroke, blindness, kidney failure and leg amputation.

Despite the dangers, many people with diabetes do not know it. But lifestyle changes can prevent it in many cases.

On World Diabetes Day, which is celebrated on November 14 at BBC Mundo, we investigate what is the most common doubts that people are asking Google for diabetes and We asked three specialists.

1) What are the first symptoms of diabetes? And to the children?

"Typically, the doctor warns the patient that he has type 2 diabetes based on the results of laboratory tests that measure the blood sugar level." Most patients with type 2 diabetes have no symptoms, more often in patients with type 1 diabetes when the levels they remain very high for a long time.

Fatigue, thirst, hunger, excessive urination, blurred vision and weight loss are likely to occur. "- Victor Montori, a special endocrinologist for diabetes in the Mayo Clinic in the United States.

"In children, the type of diabetes is often type 1. Symptoms are usually more intense and present in a shorter period of time: intense thirst, weight loss, frequent urination, fatigue, do not play it in the usual manner, drowsiness." – José Agustín Mesa Pérez, endocrinologist and president of the Latin American Diabetes Association.

"In recent decades, we have had an alarming increase in type 2 diabetes in children and adolescents, which are associated with greater obesity and sedentary lifestyle habits." Fabiana Vazquez, a member of the Argentine Society of Diabetes.

2) When is blood sugar level dangerous?

"After meals, these values ​​increase but insulin ensures that they return quickly to the normal range (usually 2 hours). Values ​​above 180 mg / dL held for more than 2 hours are toxic to the cells and, if repeated times, can cause permanent damage to them, especially in the kidneys, eyes, heart and leg nerves. "

"In the long term, the entire body is affected if the values ​​are high, so that people with diabetes have a blood glucose of between 70 and 180 mg / dl for most of the day." – Fabiana Vazquez, a member of the Argentine Society of Diabetes.

"A type 2 diabetic patient may begin to dehydrate when the sugar level exceeds 200 mg / dL, but people without any other problem can maintain high sugar levels at greater risk when the level is too high, for example from 300 mg / dL, the risk is greater and requires attention. "- Victor Montori, a special endocrinologist for diabetes in the Mayo Clinic in the United States.

"You should also talk about the values ​​below, people who have diabetes, and those who have some complications should avoid having a glucose value of less than 70 mg / dl in both fasting and after eating." – José Agustín Mesa Pérez, endocrinologist and president of the Latin American Diabetes Association.

3) What are the differences of type 1 and 2 diabetes?

"There are four types of diabetes in the classification, but in practice it is expressed as type 1 or 2. Type 1 is usually found in young people under 30, thin and who have no inherited history of diabetes."

It usually happens with acute symptoms. Type 2 diabetes usually occurs in adults over 40 years of age, very related to overweight or obesity, with a waist circumference measured at home over 80 cm in women and 90 cm in men, also associated with other risk factors, such as high triglycerides and high blood pressure and fatty liver. "- José Agustín Mesa Pérez, endocrinologist and president of the Latin American Diabetes Association.

"In type 1 diabetes, proper use of insulin (a laborious and costly job) offers these patients the possibility of a life without restrictions." Patients with type 2 diabetes, the mild, abnormalities can be well controlled by diet, exercise, stress management and medicines (pills, injections, insulin). "- Victor Montori, a special endocrinologist for diabetes in the Mayo Clinic in the United States.

4) Diabetes has a cure? Can it be avoided?

"Diabetes can not be treated but it is well controlled, the individual can lead to a normal life, there is no way to know who will have diabetes 1 or how to avoid it, while type 2 diabetes has very clear results and maintains weight Adequate, healthy and balanced diet and regular physical exercise can prevent or delay the onset in people with genetic predisposition. "- Fabiana Vazquez, a member of the Argentine Society of Diabetes.

"Pancreatic transplantation is an aggressive alternative that in many cases resolves insulin deficiency in type 1 diabetes." – Victor Montori, a special endocrinologist for diabetes in the Mayo Clinic in the United States.

"There is no cure and you have to be very careful with the liars and the terlatans who promise it, but it's a perfectly controlled chronic disease, the sooner you are diagnosed and working hard to reduce risk factors, it avoids other complications." José Agustín Mesa Pérez, endocrinologist and president of the Latin American Diabetes Association.

5) Which foods cause diabetes?

"No one, there is no food that can develop diabetes on its own, confusion comes because the prehistoric man needs to save energy to live and succeed through insulin-saving mechanisms."

"But over time and high availability of food began to have problems: the consumption of excess energy that began to come with industrial development and was no longer natural food, but canned foods for which digestion is not an overrun the calorie deposit in fat, liver and other structures began to grow, the conclusion was the development of chronic diseases such as diabetes, obesity, cancer, etc. "José Agustín Mesa Pérez, endocrinologist and president of the Latin American Diabetes Association.

"Enough consumption of vegetables (both raw and cooked and various colors) and fruit can help balance nutrition and incorporate natural antioxidants that help prevent diabetes."

"Fat-rich diets, especially if of animal origin, as well as simple carbohydrates (sugars) and prepared foods have been shown to be associated with a higher chance of developing type 2 diabetes. Excess fast foods and snacks are one of the causes of the higher incidence with which we detect type 2 diabetes in children. " Fabiana Vazquez, a member of the Argentine Society of Diabetes.


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