According to new research from the Archives of Internal Medicine, doctor and patient alike will want to watch the growth of diabetes. By the year 2025, there could be as many as 380 million people affected by complications of type 2 diabetes. Because this epidemic is becoming so widespread, it is in everyone’s best interest to understand as much as possible about the disease, including how it is contracted and what you can do to control it.
Both type 1 and type 2 diabetes are disorders of the body’s natural insulin production. When a person has type 1 diabetes, the body produces very little insulin, or sometimes none at all. This kind of diabetes is often hereditary and often shows up in children. Type 2 diabetes is sometimes called “the preventable diabetes”. Even so, it is becoming increasingly common due to diets high in sugar, calories, along with lifestyles that do not incorporate much physical activity. When a person has type 2, their cells do not respond to insulin production. Though it has long been referred to as “adult-onset diabetes”, more and more children and becoming susceptible to the condition. More and more soft drink consumption, sugary cereals, larger portions, and decreased exercise have all been blamed for this rise.
There are a number of risk factors that any internal medicine doctor will tell you are warning signs of being susceptible to type 2 diabetes. These include being over the age of 45 along with being more than 20 percent overweight, also defined as having a BMI of 27 or more. Having immediate family members with the condition is also a risk factor. Certain ethnicities, such as African Americans, Alaska Natives, and American Indians are at higher risk for the disease.
Type 2 diabetes, as any internal medicine doctor can tell you, is one of the few diseases that can be almost entirely eliminated by changes in a person’s diet and lifestyle. Even losing a small amount of weight can have a drastic impact on the condition and the symptoms. A study in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that the participants who made lifestyle changes such as getting more exercise and cleaning up their diets were able to reduce their risk of contracting diabetes by 58 percent.
If you or someone you know is pre-diabetic or is suffering from symptoms related to diabetesFeature Articles, it is important to see an internal medicine doctor as soon as possible. Get some blood work done and find out your status. The physician will be able to give you all the information you need when it comes to controlling the condition.
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