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Besides obesity, diabetes is another chronic disease that is a consequence of unhealthy living. Based on Singapore's Disease Burden Statistics, in 2017, the prevalence of diabetes in adults aged 18 to 69 years, was 8.6%.
Diabetes is an illness that is commonly brought up as it causes many complications and hence at our young age, we should manage our health to avoid the risks of getting it when we're older.
There are actually two types of diabetes, Type 1 and Type 2. Type 1 diabetes occurs when our pancreas is unable to produce insulin, but it is usually inherited and cannot be prevented.
Hence, we'll be focusing on Type 2 diabetes as this type of diabetes is preventable!
What is Type 2 Diabetes?
To understand what is type 2 diabetes, we must first understand what happens in our body when we eat and how an important hormone, insulin, comes to play.
As we have mentioned in our post on breakfasts, after we eat, our food is digested and carbohydrates are broken down into glucose that is absorbed into our bloodstream, which increases our blood glucose level.
Next, insulin (a hormone made by our pancreas), would act as a "key" to unlock our body cells, allowing glucose to enter our cells, which will then be used for energy. This also brings our blood glucose level to normal.
So, when does type 2 diabetes occur?
Type 2 diabetes happens when insulin doesn't work so well, which can occur because of either of the 2 situations below:
Insulin Resistance: Our body cells become resistant to insulin (keys do not work on locks)
Insulin Shortage: Our pancreas does not make enough insulin (not enough keys to unlock the cells)
Due to these problems, glucose is unable to enter our body cells and will build up in our bloodstream instead, resulting in high blood glucose.
What causes Type 2 Diabetes?
For insulin resistance, it is usually caused by obesity and a high calorie diet, or a lack of exercise.
While for insulin shortage, it can be caused by a high sugar and carbohydrate diet which may overwork our pancreas, or it can be caused by obesity which leads to a fatty pancreas (a pancreas that contains gathered fat, making less insulin).
Thus, if we are overweight or obese, or we lead an inactive lifestyle, our risks of getting type 2 diabetes are higher.
What are the complications of Type 2 Diabetes?
Having type 2 diabetes will lead to different complications such as microvascular (small vessel) complications and macrovascular (medium and large vessel) complications.
Microvascular complications of type 2 diabetes include:
Nerve damage – Diabetes may also cause loss of feeling in the feet due to nerve damage
Retinopathy – Damage to blood vessels in the eye, that may lead to blindness
Kidney Failure – Diabetes increases the risk of kidney disease, which leads to kidney failure and may require dialysis to treat
Macrovascular complications of type 2 diabetes include:
Stroke – Diabetes may damage the blood vessels in the brain, leading to stroke
Heart attack – Diabetes may cause damage and blockages to the blood vessels of the heart, leading to a heart attack
Reduced blood circulation – Diabetes can reduce or block blood flow to the legs, which might lead to gangrene and even amputation
These complications are very serious and we should surely do our best to avoid type 2 diabetes so that we do not suffer them when we're older.
How do I avoid Type 2 Diabetes?
It may sound repetitive, but to avoid type 2 diabetes, we should have both a balanced diet and an active lifestyle. You can refer to our previous posts on our blog for tips on these topics!
When you eat, a highly recommended tip is to use My Healthy Plate as a guide and ensure you do not consume too much carbohydrates (and try to go for wholegrains instead of refined grains as it may overwork your pancreas which causes insulin shortage!)
Besides that, we should also avoid sugary foods! Sugar is also a type of carbohydrate and any excess sugar that we eat is converted by our body into fat to be stored. Eating large amounts of sugary foods or having sweetened drinks often, can put us at risk of obesity, which leads to type 2 diabetes.
If you would like tips to reduce sugar in your diet to avoid type 2 diabetes, you can click on the button here!
Conclusion
If we were to ignore our health now and get type 2 diabetes in the future, it would not only bring burden to our health, but more money and time would also need to be spent to provide care for our body, such as frequent medication to manage our glucose levels.
At our young age now, where we still have the time and energy to manage a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle, we should therefore make the effort to do so!
If you would like to read up more on type 2 diabetes, you can click the button below for Health Promotion Board's pocket guide on diabetes! The article has very cute and fun infographics that can give you more in-depth understanding of diabetes!
You should also check out HPB's programme on beating diabetes, which will give you thorough information on pre-diabetes (a condition where your blood sugar is higher than normal) and how to prevent it!
With our recent blog posts, we hope you were able to learn healthy and gain knowledge about what it means to live a balanced lifestyle! For our upcoming posts, we'll be sharing with you fun suggestions that you can try out, so you can start living healthy!
Sources
Health Promotion Board, 2020. Diabetes (Pocket Guide). [Online] Available at: https://www.healthhub.sg/a-z/diseases-and-conditions/676/pocket-guide-to-diabetes#5 [Accessed 27 June 2021].
Health Promotion Board, 2021. Hidden Sugars and Diabetes. [Online] Available at: https://www.healthhub.sg/live-healthy/1423/hidden-sugars-and-diabetes [Accessed 27 June 2021].
Health Promotion Board, n.d. Stop and Reverse Pre-diabetes. [Online] Available at: https://www.healthhub.sg/programmes/87/diabetes-mellitus#beaware [Accessed 27 June 2021].
Health Promotion Board, n.d. Sweet Talk: Sugars and Sweeteners. [Online] Available at: https://www.healthhub.sg/programmes/77/sweet-talk-sugars-and-sweeteners#section-sweeteners [Accessed 27 June 2021].
super comprehensive and insightful !! i’d better take some steps to live a healthier lifestyle so i can reduce the risk of diabetes 😔😔😔