What is diabetes?
Diabetes is simply an increase in the
glucose content of your blood, due to the inability of your cells to properly access
or use this glucose.Diabetes has killed more than AIDS and malaria combined.
The Breakdown:
You will remember that we have a
special class of food called carbohydrates a.k.a energy giving foods. It
includes such foods as: bread, rice…
Carbohydrates are usually called polysaccharides because they contain
very many different types of sugars. However there is a special type of sugar
we call glucose that your cells need for energy. So your body has to extract
glucose from carbohydrate.
To do this your body uses different
types of chemicals called enzymes to separate the glucose from carbohydrate in the
following steps:
1.
Mouth: the separation begins in your
mouth. When you chew your bread (carbohydrate), you are mixing it with your
saliva, your saliva comes from a place we call the salivary gland. Your
salivary gland also produces a chemical we call amylase. Amylase changes the
carbohydrate into a form we call Maltose (maltose contains only 2 sugars, so
from many sugars we now have just 2).
2.
Esophagus: When you swallow, the food
has left your mouth and travels in a wave like form through ‘road’ we call
esophagus. Nothing much happens here.
3.
Stomach: so your food has finally
gotten to the stomach. Your stomach is acidic and so the acid ‘kills’ that
amylase that was produced in your mouth, and that travelled with your food
which is now maltose all this while.
4.
Duodenum: From the stomach our food
(which is now maltose) enters the duodenum. The duodenum is the first part of
the small intestine, just immediately after the stomach. In the duodenum,
maltose now mixes with another chemical (enzyme) called maltase, which finally
converts it to glucose, which your cells need for energy.
But what of Insulin?
Insulin is another chemical (a hormone
this time), that determines how high or low the glucose in your blood is. After
carbohydrate has been converted to glucose, the glucose is transported by the
blood around the body.
Now, if the glucose content of your blood is high,
certain cells called Beta Cells in an
organ called the pancreas are signaled
to release insulin. Insulin is like a password that tells your body cells to
start absorbing glucose.
If the glucose level is still excess, insulin signals
the liver to store this glucose in a form called glycogen, and this is released later when the glucose level in your
blood drops. Insulin, in other words, is a ‘glucose
level regulator’.
So What Causes Diabetes???
Diabetes can be caused by two factors:
1.
Total
lack of insulin: this results when our immune system
erroneously sees beta cells (the
cells that tell the pancreas to produce insulin) as enemies and destroys them.
So, the pancreas are unaware of the glucose level in the blood.
2.
Insufficient
production of insulin: this results when the pancreas cannot
produce enough insulin to regulate the blood glucose level or when the amount
of glucose in the blood is excess as compared to what the insulin produced can
handle.
What are Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes???
This is quite simple. Type 1 Diabetes is diabetes caused by total
lack of insulin. It is also called Insulin
Dependent Diabetes.
Type
2 Diabetes is diabetes caused by insufficient production of insulin.
Or, because the cells are not responding to the insulin produced. It is also
called Non-insulin Dependent Diabetes.
What are the common symptoms of Diabetes???
Diabetes is usually not easily
identified. However, occurrence of more than four of these symptoms listed
below together should call for medical intervention.
Symptoms of Diabetes include:
ü It
is often detected in children
ü Blurred
vision
ü Frequent
urination, and bed-wetting for children
ü Smelling
breath (the breath might have the smell of common fruits, but cannot be
perceived by the diabetic)
ü Unquenchable
thirst
ü Unexplainable
weight loss
ü Wounds
and cuts that take abnormally long to heal
ü Sugary
urine
Now, if these symptoms are detected in
a child or an early adult it is most likely Type
1 Diabetes. If it is detected much later in life, it is Type 2 Diabetes.
How Can Diabetes Be Managed???
Let me state here that being diagnosed
with diabetes is not a death sentence. As
medical science has developed so much as to understand the root causes. Properly
diagnose them and proffer ways of management.
ü In
cases of type 1 diabetes, regular
insulin shots are required. This is because, the body cannot produce insulin at
all and so, insulin has to be injected into the bloodstream manually. Sufferers
of type 1 diabetes will always have
to check their blood sugar level regularly.
 |
| An Electronic Blood Sugar Level Checker. |
ü Sufferers
of Type 2 Diabetes must involve in
regular exercise and must fight weight gain
ü General
diabetics must keep close watch on their diets. Fast foods must be limited as
much as possible.
ü Avoid
stress. An increase in stress can cause an increase in blood glucose level.
What are foods that a diabetic should avoid?
Generally diabetics should limit
consumption of refined carbohydrates like:
1.
Rice
2.
Pasta (noodles)
3.
White bread
4.
French fries
5.
Any snack processed with white flour
NB: Since prevention is better than cure, you
don’t have to be a diabetic before limiting the intake of the above mentioned
foods.
What are the kinds of food a diabetic should consume???
The following are some foods that are
medically recommended for diabetics:
ü Fresh
fruits
ü Leafy
vegetables, this provides fiber
ü Whole
wheat bread
ü Baked
sweet potato
ü Whole
grain pasta
So
Hope You learnt Something, Share, You just might save a life .
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