Understanding the Risk of Diabetes
High Blood Sugar Carries a Serious Danger of Heart Disease
Aug 25, 2008
The Diabetic who refuses the offer of a third piece of chocolate cake claiming “I must be careful because I have a little diabetes” just does not understand the disease!
Diabetes mellitus is actually a generalized disease that affects ALL the body’s organs – and unlike cake, where you can have a “small” piece of cake, you certainly cannot have just a “little” Diabetes. You either have it or you don’t - and the disease certainly is not “little”!
High blood sugar (with excess sugar passing out in the urine and resulting in having to pass large quantities of urine) is just one manifestation. Tiredness, excessive thirst, loss of weight despite a voracious appetite, delay in healing of wounds, polyuria - all these symptoms make up the clinical picture. Once a person develops the features of diabetes, he or she becomes vulnerable to damage of the blood vessels – which in due course will result in heart attacks, strokes, kidney failure and blindness. Just as putting sugar into the fuel tank of a car ruins the working parts of the engine, having excess sugar in the human bloodstream will gradually ruin all the body’s working parts - from eyes to brain to kidneys!
Recent research has shown that people who have Diabetes are at a much greater risk of getting a heart attack than people who do not have diabetes. In fact, if you have diabetes you have the same risk of getting a heart attack as someone who has already had one heart attack (who is known to have damaged blood vessels in the heart). It stands to reason therefore that the correct management of diabetes is not just taking tablets aimed at reducing blood sugar levels. Managing diabetes properly requires taking appropriate steps to minimise the risk of heart attacks and other complications – using medications to reduce blood pressure, improve blood flow to the various organs and optimise the functioning of the heart.
Keeping blood sugar under control requires not just popping pills but also sticking to sensible food choices (so that the body is not overloaded with foods that are easily converted to blood sugar), undertaking enough physical activity (to metabolise or “burn up” the sugar that is absorbed by the intestine from ingested food) and keeping weight under control (because carrying extra fat, especially around the waistline upsets the whole balance of blood sugar control).
21st century healthcare consists of three components – management of “incurable” diseases (like heart failure, kidney failure, diabetes and old age), treatment of acute curable conditions (like injuries and infections) and prevention of whichever human diseases are preventable. It thus stands to reason that the focus should be on preventing what can be prevented.
Diabetes can to a large extent be prevented – or at least have its onset delayed – by attention to lifestyle. Prevention should start in young adult life or even as early as in childhood by acquiring the knowledge to choose foods wisely, to avoid putting on excess weight and to develop a healthy lifestyle that includes adequate physical activity and exercise.
