TUESDAY, 14 November marks National Diabetes Day as a way to highlight the risks associated with this disease and ways to control or avoid it.
Covid-19 not only highlighted the health risks of diabetes and infectious diseases, but it also brought to life the prevalence of this blood sugar condition. Here’s a look at some of the facts about diabetes.
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• Pre-diabetes is an indicator that you need to adapt your lifestyle to prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes. This is where your body can’t fully use the insulin you make, or your body doesn’t make enough insulin to keep blood sugar levels in a healthy range.
• There are three types of diabetes; type 1, type 2 and gestational diabetes.
• With type 2 diabetes, your body doesn’t make sufficient insulin or doesn’t use its insulin well, causing your blood sugar to rise, leading to further health complications.
• With type 1 diabetes, your body can’t make insulin, which means having to administer insulin daily.
• Between 1980 and 2014, the number of people with diabetes shot up from 108 million to 422 million, with prevalence in low- to middle-income countries. Almost half of adults living with diabetes – around 240 million – are undiagnosed.
• The total number of people living with diabetes is expected to rise to 643 million by 2030, and 783 million by 2045.
• Adults with diabetes have a two- to three-times higher risk of heart attacks and strokes, with diabetes a major cause of blindness, kidney failure and lower limb amputation.
• Diabetic retinopathy can cause blindness, affecting more than 1 million people globally. In 2019, diabetes and associated kidney disease led to around 2 million deaths.
• Lifestyle measures have been shown to prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes. This includes a healthy diet avoiding sugar and saturated fats; physical activity, and avoiding tobacco use.
Start practising a healthy lifestyle to prevent contracting diabetes and the associated health risks. To find out more, visit www.diabetessa.org.za
Sources: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/diabetes
https://idf.org/aboutdiabetes/what-is-diabetes/facts-figures.html
https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/library/spotlights/diabetes-facts-stats.html
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