Diabetes: Care and Cure

The author writes :
It is a good idea to take up some form of regular physical activity, such as walking, swimming, dancing or cycling

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ji mai isi lyay subha shaam twist or cha cha cha karti hooN aur do peher ko kuthuK....
mainly for prevention of diabetes.

The author wrote:
The people most at risk are:
* people with a family history of diabetes;
* people aged between 40 to 75;
* people of Asian or Caribbean origin;
* people who are very over weight; and
* women who have given birth to a large baby (note: Author was born a large baby; he assumes this caused his mother diabetes)


would like to make a correction:
Its not large babies who give their mother diabetes. Its actually gestational diabetes or diabetes developing during the 28th week of pregnancy which can lead to complication leading to a large baby and difficult birth and numerous other birth related problems, IF the mother doesnt control her diabetes well during pregnancy.
It almost always disappears after birth as its due to antibodies to insulin released from Placenta.
Ofcourse those mothers are at increased risk of developing diabetes within 5 years or later during life.

Nice article...I was diagnosed type II two years ago at the age of 29...didn`t know it was known that South Aisans in general have a penchance of getting the problem at a younger age.

Doc. proscribed metfomin...it works, but makes you feel like chit. Started taking Chromium pills now too...aside from sounding cool, I haven`t seen any benifit.

On the plus side, I lost 20lbs in a month for eating a lot of sugar (sudden, rapid weight loss is a symptom of chronically high blood sugar levels - NOT a recommended way of loosing weight). Symptoms appeared suddenly too...it`s as if my body just `broke` on me...but then, my sugar intake increased dramatically during that particular period as well.

Re: # 8 Huma

Yes, at present it is considered that eating excessive sugar doesn`t cause diabetes (note SR`s note below) but my mother was already showing the symptoms of advanced stages of type 2. In that condition eating excessive sweets aggravates the existing condition. That is what I wrote.

Great article on perhaps the most important subject and least discussed subject on chowk (one`s health). While diabetes can be controlled as the article indicates, untreated diabetes can wreak havoc with the body - including the need to amputate limbs, and to make a person more prone to heart attacks.

Also note that the treatment for Type 2 diabetes in particular (i.e. good eating, exercise, weight control) is good for general health (protection for cardio-vascular problems, kidney probems, even cancer) as well.

Re: # 8 {``...the author writes ``eating sweets or wrong kind of food does not cause diabetes;``

I am not able to reconcile the two statements. ... perhaps eating sweets does not cause diabetes. But once diabetes has occured, eating sweets may worsen it?...``}

There is a cohort study of kids born in Britain during the Second World War when sugar (along with much else) was rationed. Those kids never developed a ``sweet tooth`` as they were not exposed to much refined sugar during the first three years of life. It just so happens that in the age cohort in question the rate of diabetes is lower than it is in the genral population. The difference is statistically significant.

To say that ``eating sweets or wrong kind of food does not cause diabetes`` may be true in the strictest sense, as in direct cause - effect relationship, but in an indirect way it is not true. For those who have a predisposition to becoming diabetics, obesity and higher body fat percentage even with ``normal`` total body weight, are accelerating factors to the onset of the condition. Sweets and other foods with a high glycemic index are directly responsible for increases in body fat.

...SR

urstruly sahib - you wrote ``The symptoms did not improve and we took her to a Hakim who recommended apple jam (saib a murabba). The apple therapy almost send her into a seizure.``

but the author writes ``eating sweets or wrong kind of food does not cause diabetes;``

I am not able to reconcile the two statements. Sp perhaps eating sweets does not cause diabetes. But once diabetes has occured, eating sweets may worsen it?

{``...About 4.8 million people in the world are known to have diabetes — that`s about 8 in every 100 people. And there are an estimated 2.5 million people in the world who have diabetes but don`t know it....``}

Rehman sahib/a

Your sincerity and decication in writing this article are very evident and for that I respect you. There are a few minor technical details that could be polished and made clear, but its not so important. However, the passage I quote above is a glaring (typographical?) error.

The world population is believed to be about 6.5 billion. So 4.8 million is only 0.07% of that number. If we add 2.5 million to it, even then the total of 7.3 million is only 0.11% of the world population. This is not even close to 8% as you wrote.

In fact, the 8% figuer is true for North America, and the 4.8 million number may be a misreading of the actual 48 million number that is true for all of Europe.

Following is a quote from the International diabetese federation: http://www.idf.org/home/index.cfm?node=264

In 2003 it was estimated that 5.1% (in the age bracket 20-79) of people in all IDF member countries have diabetes. The European Region and the Western Pacific Region have the highest number of people with diabetes, approximately 48 and 43 million respectively. The highest rate of diabetes prevalence is to be found in the North American region (7.9%) followed by the European Region (7.8%).

It is estimated that approximately 4.9 million people (in all age groups) have type 1 diabetes, or about 0.09% of the world`s population. The European region has the highest estimated number of people with type 1 diabetes (1.27 million), followed by the North American Region (1.04 million) and the South East Asian Region (0.91 million). The estimated prevalence of type 1 diabetes is highest in the North American Region (0.25%), followed by the European Region (0.19%).

Once again, I respect your devotion of time and energy to this cause.

...SR

kudos to chowk staff for choosing this article. I think Chowk should add another tab at its front page namely ``Health & Fitness``.

Many decades ago when my mother was diagnosed with diabetes, she was in her late twenties. At first no doctor could diagnose what was wrong with her for her classical diabetic symptoms. They gave her vitamins and recommended juices etc. At that time, diabetes was mostly unheard of. The symptoms did not improve and we took her to a Hakim who recommended apple jam (saib a murabba). The apple therapy almost send her into a seizure. That was when we were told to take her to a CMH where she was diagnosed properly. At that time no information was availble on prevention and control. But time has changed since then. Afew years ago self test was unheard of and we had to take her to the hospital for fasting sugar test. But along the way time has changed. A few years ago when I took her to the doctor at a diabetes clinic I saw a line of 3 and five years olds who were waiting for their insulin administration. I was horrified to see so many people suffering from this epidemic.

A nice basic level article on the topic. Chowk may keep a seperate section for health and fitness linked articles.

Dude , you gonna be freelancin` for a long time, if you keep writin` like this.Lookin` at your last name i thought you were related to A R Rahman, but the address says Pak, so i hope you got a rich relative who`ll help you tide things over, if you keep writin` like this.

I am glad that Chowk Amdin has started entertaining articles on health related issues. You don`t have to be diabetic to appreciate an article on the said subject. You do need to know about the diet and nutritional stuff in order to prevent any disease before its cure kicks in.

i can`t wait to read your next article, is it on arteriosclerosis, please tell, pretty please

what the........

when did chowk turn into webmd.....
as far as the author is concerned, umm.....er.. thanks for the info