Causes of Diabetes

Hereditary or Inherited Traits : It is strongly believed that is due to some genes which passes from one generation to another. It depends upon closeness of blood relationship as mother is diabetes risk is 2 to 3%, father is diabetic risk is more than the previous case and if both the parents are diabetic, it has much greater risk for diabetes.


Age : Increased age is a factor which gives more possibility than in younger age. This disease may occur at any age, but 80% of cases occur after 50 year, incidences increase as age do in this group.


Poor Diet (Malnutrition Related Diabetes) : Improper nutrition, low protein and fibre intake, high intake of refined products are the expected reasons for developing diabetes.


Obesity and Fat Distribution : Being overweight means increased insulin resistance, that is if body fat is more than 30%, BMI 25+, waist grith 35 inches in women or 40 inches in males.


Sedentary Lifestyle : People with sedentary lifestyle are more prone to diabetes, when compare to those who exercise thrice a week, are at lesser risk of falling prey to diabetes.

Stress : Either physical injury or emotional disturbance is frequently blamed as the initial cause of the disease. Any disturbance in Corticosteroid or ACTH therapy may lead to clinical signs of the diseases.


Drug Induced: Clozapine (Clozaril), olanzapine (Zyprexa), risperidone (Risperdal), quetiapine (Seroquel) and ziprasidone (Geodon) are known to induce this lethal disease.


Infection : Some of the strephylococci are suppose to be responsible factor for infection in pancreas.


Sex : It is commonly seen in elderly especially males but strong evidence of developing diabetes in females with multiple pregnancy has been observed or in females suffering from (PCOS) Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome.


Hypertension : It had been reported in many studies that there is direct relation between high systolic pressure and diabetes.


Serum lipids and lipoproteins : High triglyceride and cholesterol level in the blood are related to high blood sugars, in some cases it had been studied that risk are involved even with low HDL levels in circulating blood.

Type 2 diabetes

Type 2 Diabetes, is also called non insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) or adult-onset diabetes. It occurs when the body produces enough insulin but cannot utilize it effectively. This type of diabetes usually develops in middle age. A general observation says that about 90-95 % of people with suffering with diabetes are type 2; about 80 percent are overweight. It is more common among people who are older; obese; have a family history of diabetes; have had gestational diabetes. There are number of risk factors found to be responsible for type 2 diabetes, the more the Etiology and Risk factors carried by an individual the higher the risk for developing the diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes

Type 1 Diabetes is autoimmune disease that affects 0.3% on average. It is result of destruction of beta cells due to aggressive nature of cells present in the body.
Researchers believe thats some of the Etiology and Risk factors which may trigger type 1 diabetes may be genetic, poor diet (malnutrition) and environment (virus affecting pancreas). Secondly, in most of the cases diabetes occurs because there is abnormal secretion of some hormones in blood which act as antagonists to insulin. Example- Adrenocortical hormone, Adrenaline hormone and Thyroid hormone.

Diabetes Diet

Diet plays a significant role in controlling the diabetes. The diabetic diet may be used alone or else in combination with insulin doses or with oral hypoglycemic drugs. Main objective of diabetic diet is to maintain ideal body weight, by providing adequate nutrition along with normal blood sugar levels in blood. The diet plan for a diabetic is based on height, weight, age, sex, physical activity and nature of diabetes. While planning diet, the dietician has to consider complications such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels.

With respect to the above factors, a dietician will assess calories to be given, like scheming the carbohydrates, proteins, fats, type of carbohydrate, amount of fiber and so on.

Exchange meal plan is a diet program which balances the amount of carbohydrate that we intake per day. Glucose is a sugar released from carbohydrate so if we want to control blood sugar we have to limit the consumption of simple carbohydrate. Carbohydrate foods are given as value per portion, known as the exchange. This plan helps us to decide on the type of food to be taken, the amount of food and also the time to eat. You can plan for more flexible meal as you get more knowledge about the diet of a diabetic, may be like the counting carbohydrate meal plan or constant carbohydrate. But there is no common diet that works for everyone. Nor is there any particular diet that works perfectly for any diabetic over a long period. While planning diabetes diet we should adhere to certain important factors, they are as follows:

• Fiber should be at least 40 gm / day
• Instead of 3 heavy meals, we should go for 4-5 small mid intervals
• Replace bakery products and fast foods by simple whole cooked cereals, and don't eat carbohydrates 2 hours before bedtime
• Consume fresh fruit and vegetables at least 5 exchange/ day

Diabetics must always need to take care of thier diet and also about the food they eat. Care has to be taken because all foods contain not only carbohydrate, but also some energy value. Protein and fat available in the food are converted to glucose in the body. This glucose has some effect on the blood sugar level which has to be taken care. Furthermore there is no need that you have to eat only bland boring diet. Instead you have to eat more fruits, vegetables and whole grains. It means that to select foods that are high in nutrition and low in calories and fat.

Obesity and Diabetes

Diabetes is spreading worldwide as an epidemic. Diabetes is a disorder in which the body cells fail to take up glucose from the blood. Wasting of tissues is seen as glucose-starved cells are forced to consume their own proteins. Diabetes is the cause of blindness, kidney failure and amputation in adults. Individuals with diabetes lack the ability to use the hormone insulin.

As we start eating food, our body starts producing insulin. The insulin signal attaches to a special receptor on the cell surface, to make the cell turn-on its own glucose transporting machinery. It had been observed that type 2 diabetics have normal or even elevated levels of insulin in their body with normal insulin receptor, but due to some unknown reason the binding of insulin to the cell receptors does not starts the glucose transporting machinery, which it is supposed to do. Special proteins called IRS (insulin receptor substrate) are inside the cell. In type 2 diabetes something is interfering with the action of the IRS protein and it is also estimated that about 80% of those who develop type 2 diabetes are obese. When insulin attaches to the receptor protein, the receptor responds by adding a chemical called a phosphate group onto the IRS molecules by which the IRS molecules turn into action. Once activated, they start variety of processes, including an enzyme that turns on the glucose transporter machinery.

Overweight and obesity are both labels for series of weight, greater than what is generally considered healthy for an individual. BMI ranges for children and teens above a normal weight have different labels (at risk of overweight and overweight). Excess body weight is implicated as a risk factor for many disorders including heart disease, cancer, diabetes, female infertility, prostate enlargement, uterine fibroids, gallstone and gestational diabetes etc. The location of fat deposits in the body leads to different risks associated with it. Increased abdominal fat can be estimated by waist size.

Dozens of controlled clinical trials had been carried out to determine the fasting insulin levels and effect of weight loss on fasting blood glucose. They found:

• Weight loss produced by lifestyle modification declines blood glucose levels and HbA1c in type 2 diabetics.
• Glucose tolerance in overweight individuals will improve due to decrease in abdominal fat with impaired glucose tolerance.
• Glucose tolerance improves in overweight individuals due to increased cardio respiratory fitness with impaired glucose tolerance or diabetes.

Diabetes

Diabetes mellitus is the common disease seen in the United States. It is estimated that 16 million Americans are already caught with diabetes, and 5.4 million diabetics are not aware of the existing disease. Diabetes prevalence has increased steadily in the last half of this century and will continue rising among U.S. population. It believed to be one of the main criterions for deaths in United States every year. This diabetes information hub tries to project the necessary steps and precautions to be taken, to control and eradicate diabetes completely.

Diabetes is a metabolic disorder where in human body does not produce or properly uses insulin, a hormone that is required to convert sugar, starches, and other food into energy. Diabetes mellitus is characterized by constant high levels of blood glucose (sugar). Human body has to maintain the blood glucose level at a very narrow range, which is done with insulin and glucagon. The function of glucagon is to release glucose from the liver to the blood stream so that, it can be transported to body tissues and cells for the production of energy.

There are three main types of diabetes:

• Type 1 diabetes
• Type 2 diabetes
• Gestational diabetes

Type 1 and Type 2 :

diabetes impede a person’s carefree life. When breakdown of glucose is stopped completely, body uses fat and protein for producing the energy. Due to this mechanism symptoms like polydipsia, polyuria, polyphegia, and excessive weightloss can be observed in a diabetic. Desired blood sugar of human body should be maintained between 70 mg/dl -110 mg/dl at fasting state. If blood sugar is less than 70 mg/dl, it is termed as hypoglycemia and if more than 110 mg /dl, it’s hyperglycemia.

Diabetes is the primary reason for adult blindness, end-stage renal disease (ESRD), gangrene and amputations. Overweight, lack of exercise, family history and stress increases the likelihood of developing diabetes. When blood sugar level is constantly high it leads to kidney failure, cardiovascular problems and neuropathy. Patients with diabetes are 4 times more likely to have coronary heart disease and stroke. In addition, Gestational diabetes is more dangerous for pregnant women and their fetus.

Having complete diabetes information is very essential as, Diabetes mellitus is not completely curable but can be managed successfully. The control of diabetes mostly depends on the patient and it is his/her responsibility to take care of their diet, exercise and medication. Advances in diabetes research have led to better ways of controlling diabetes and treating its complications. Hence it includes:-

• New improved Insulin and its therapy, (external and implantable insulin pumps) have advanced well to manage elevated blood sugars without any allergic reactions.
• Oral hypoglycemic drugs, controls diabetes type 2.
• New improved blood glucose monitors (new device for self blood glucose monitoring), and hemoglobin A1c laboratory test to measure blood glucose control during previous 3 months.
• Effective availability of the treatments for affected body organs due to diabetes.
• Better ways to manage health of the mother and the fetus during the gestational diabetes phase.