FOR persons with diabetes, taking care of your overall health is a top priority, and germane to managing diabetes, is keeping your blood sugar under control. And just why is it important to do this? Because whenever your blood sugar level rises and is not controlled, it triggers responses that could adversely affect major organs in the person’s body, leading to amputations; other illnesses such as strokes, erectile dysfunction; coronary heart diseases, blindness, nervous system damage, chronic kidney disease and eventually end-stage renal failure.
Diabetes is a serious chronic non-communicable disease. It affects almost all parts of the human body. If you do not control it, then it can cause serious problems with your organs.
Whenever a person consumes carbohydrates, his/her body gets glucose from the food they eat. After the food is digested, glucose passes into your blood stream. The glucose must then get into the cells and tissues where it will be used for growth and energy. But this cannot happen without insulin playing its part.
Type 2 diabetes
It is here that insulin (a protein made by the pancreas) which changes sugars into energy, plays a key role. In fact, it acts as a key, and opens ‘tiny doors’ in your cells, to let glucose in from your bloodstream. Once the glucose would have passed into your cells and is stored for energy, then the level of glucose in your blood stream goes down.
But if there is ‘insulin resistance’ and the cells are not opened up to take in the glucose, then it remains in the bloodstream and builds up, which constitutes hyperglycemia or type 2 diabetes.
Another disadvantage is that for people with type 2 diabetes, their fat, liver, and muscle cells do not respond correctly to insulin. This is called insulin resistance. This condition can come about through the use of trans fat (such as margarine, shortening or some vegetable oils), in which case, the fat plug up the insulin receptors, driving insulin resistance.
In short, Type 2 diabetes is a lifelong (chronic) disease in which there is a high level of sugar (glucose) in the blood. It is the most common form of diabetes. A person can get it if it runs in the family; when they don’t get regular exercise; when there are too many stressors in your life or if your body does not make enough insulin or can’t properly use the insulin your pancreas makes.
Type 1 Diabetes: The other major type of diabetes is Type I diabetes (or insulin-dependent diabetes). This is where the body fails to produce the insulin needed for cells to absorb glucose and results in the person having to take injectable ‘insulin shots’ in order to burn up the glucose accumulated in the bloodstream, and convert it to energy for the body’s cells and tissues. Previously, Type I diabetes was common mainly among adults in Guyana. However, more and more children are being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.
In response to this, the Ministry of Health has an innovative programme through which they are screened, treated and managed once diagnosed. The programme has the support of the private sector and foreign donors and caters to the nutritional needs of the affected children, as well as supplements, and the provision of special injecting devices to dispense insulin to the children on a daily basis. Early symptoms of diabetes may include:
* Bladder, kidney, skin, or other infections that are more frequent or heal slowly
* Fatigue
* Hunger
* Increased thirst
* Increased urination
* Blurred vision
* Erectile dysfunction
* Pain or numbness in the feet or hands
FROM SILENT KILLER TO ARRANT TERMINATOR
Diabetes, through the years has been known as the silent killer. That is, because dangerous as it is, it is often goes undiagnosed and only when considerable damage would have been done, do we realise, it is present. In the United States for example, diabetes affects some 24 million people, but only 18 million know they have it. This means that for 6 million Americans, their diabetic condition continues to go unmanaged.
But amazingly, the disease has now taken on a new dispensation, and from being subtle over the years, today, aided by a virtual paradigm shift in lifestyles and eating habits, it has become a virtual terminator. Where undetected and left unmanaged, it has led to rising cases of blindness strokes; cardiac diseases; erectile dysfunction, limb amputations and not least, end-stage kidney disease, necessitating dialysis which must now be taken for life, unless a kidney transplant can be done.
But even though taking care of your overall health is a top priority for diabetics, yet, so many diabetics engage in unhealthy lifestyles such as smoking and imbibing alcohol and unhealthy eating habits. And to compound the problem, a significant percentage of the cases being monitored by this newspaper, across the spectrum, were never aware that they had diabetes until they developed complications which had already gone out of control and they had either lost their sight; had to have immediate amputations or had to commence dialysis within a few days.
But in Guyana today, where many persons were not aware they had diabetes or hypertension until their kidneys had been destroyed, the contributory factor has been found to be the uncontrolled or almost reckless consumption of foods prepared using ingredients considered hazardous to good health.

FAST FOOD CRAZE
Because of the burgeoning fast food craze in Guyana, a sizeable percentage of our population (young and old) is steadfastly hooked on foods containing all the properties that make for a proliferation of diabetes in society. These include: hi-sodium; hi-carbs; trans fats; processed foods with additives and synthetic flavour enhancers; artificial sweeteners – now used in nearly all the colourful and attractively packaged and presented processed foods. And yet for all, when sickness knocks, we wonder why.
A healthy diet and an exercise plan are key to managing a diabetic’s condition and controlling his/her weight. Your doctor or dietitian can advise you on planning your meals so that you can eat the right foods and manage your sugar intake. Have your blood-sugar checked regularly. Eat a wide variety of food, but do so in moderation and minus the aforementioned ingredients.
By Shirley Thomas