Diabetes is a condition that affects the glucose in your body. It affects how your body breaks down sugar, which may case either low or high blood sugar, sometimes even both. There are various types of diabetes including: Type 1, Type 2 and Gestational. Every type of diabetes has its own symptoms and causes and also affects different people. Type 1 affects mostly younger people and causes your pancreas to cease the production of insulin. Type 2 affects older people rather than younger and is mostly caused by bad diets and lack of exercise. Gestational diabetes is the less comprehended of all three since it only affects pregnant women.
It is amazing that 216 million people around the world have at least one type of diabetes that is almost seven percent of the world’s population. Another interesting fact is that almost 50 percent of people with diabetes don’t even know they have it. This is extremely dangerous since without the right treatment, diabetes can be lethal.
Although there is no cure for diabetes, researchers have found that a group of Ghanaians discovered a short term remedy to ease the symptoms of diabetes. The remedy consists of a mix of berries called “Acai berries” that when turned into powder and mixed with water and cacao, can help people neutralize their blood sugar levels for hours, sometimes days at a time.
As mentioned before, diabetes has many types. Every type is different in almost every way. They all have different causes, affect different people and have different treatments. Most types of diabetes present symptoms as soon as they start, which is an advantage which makes them easier to detect. This is also very tricky since most symptoms are rather common, but as mentioned before, it depends on the type.
Type 1 diabetes affects children and teenagers about 90 percent of the time. It is caused by the destruction of the beta cells in charge of producing insulin. It has many treatments, such as: pancreas transplantation, Islet cell transplantation, balanced diet and insulin injection. The symptoms mostly present themselves early on in the condition. These include: Frequent urination, increased thirst, increased hunger, tiredness and sudden weight loss.
Type 2 affects people in their late 20’s – early 40’s. It is caused by numerous situations. The most common causes include: a bad diet, lack of exercise, being obese and smoking. The treatments for type 2 diabetes are pretty basic and just ask you to correct the cause of the condition in the first place. The most common treatments are exercise, diet and glucose monitoring. The symptoms are basically the same as Type 1.
Gestational diabetes is the least common type of the three. It only affects pregnant women, it is not known why. The symptoms are: increased thirst, increased urination and tiredness. Some causes which have been listed are: genetics, previous birth of a large baby (over 4.5 kg), being obese and Polycystic Ovary syndrome. Since this type is the lest common of the three, the treatment is limited the only treatment known now is either: Medication, diet, exercise and blood sugar measuring.
Diabetes is a huge problem worldwide since almost 2.8 percent of the world’s population suffers from this condition. A shocking fact is that inAmerica; about 26 million people have diabetes. Of the 26 million diabetics inAmerica, almost 7 million remain undiagnosed. This can prove to be a problem in the future as the children of these undiagnosed diabetics may carry the condition and pass it on to their children without anyone knowing. In a few years, the percentage of diabetic Americans might grow substantially and the world will be unaware of this radical change.
Diabetes is a tricky condition which, although common, is hard to detect. Awareness should b raised since you never know if you might have it or not. The test for finding if you do have diabetes is really easy. It is a basic urine test that tells you if you have either low or high blood sugar. If we want to help and prevent more people from getting diabetes, we must act now. Do your part and tell your family and friends to do the test. If not for you, for the future of diabetic presence around the world.
Contributed by Daniel Cortorreal
