Diabetes is a condition that impairs the body’s ability to utilize glucose, the most common form of sugar in the blood. The main source of energy for the body is glucose, which comes from the meals we eat. The hormone insulin is required for the body to utilize glucose. However, in persons with diabetes, the body either cannot produce insulin or the insulin produced does not act well in the body.
There are two main forms of diabetes:
Type 1 diabetes is a condition in which the immune system assaults the pancreas and kills insulin-producing cells.
Type 2 diabetes is characterized by the pancreas’ ability to produce insulin but the body’s inability to respond to it adequately.
In both types, glucose isn’t able to reach cells. This is the sole cause due to which there is elevation in blood sugar levels, and can make someone badly ill when kept untreated.
Now, what if you don’t want to go through diabetes? What measures can be taken in order to avoid diabetes development? Further, which type of diabetes can be prevented?
Preventing Diabetes: Understanding Its Causative Factors
1. Type 1 diabetes:
Type 1 diabetes has an etiology that is unknown. What is known is that your immune system, which is generally responsible for fighting dangerous germs and viruses, assaults and destroys your pancreas’ insulin-producing cells. You will have very little or no insulin as a result of this. Sugar builds up in your circulation instead of being delivered to your cells.
Type 1 diabetes is assumed to be caused by a mix of genetic predisposition and environmental factors, however the exact nature of those variables is unknown. Weight isn’t thought to play a role in type 1 diabetes.
2. Prediabetes and type 2 diabetes:
Your cells become resistant to the action of insulin in prediabetes — which can develop to type 2 diabetes — and type 2 diabetes, and your pancreas is unable to create enough insulin to overcome this resistance. Sugar accumulates in your circulation instead of going into your cells, where it is needed for energy.
It’s unclear why this happens, while genetic and environmental variables are thought to have a role in the development of type 2 diabetes. Although being overweight is significantly connected to the development of type 2 diabetes, not everyone who has the disease is obese.
Which type of diabetes can be prevented?
1. Type 1 diabetes:
Type 1 diabetes cannot be prevented and doctors won’t be able to tell who can get it and who won’t. As the causative factors of type 1 diabetes are unknown, it neither is contagious, nor is caused due to consumption of excess sugar. Thus, if the cause isn’t clear, the cure and prevention is also unclear.
2. Type 2 diabetes:
Type 2 diabetes, unlike type 1, can occasionally be avoided. Excessive weight gain, obesity, and a sedentary lifestyle all increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes was once thought to solely affect adults. However, as the number of overweight children and teenagers grows, more children and teenagers are being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
Although reducing weight and increasing physical activity may help children and teenagers avoid or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes, some risk factors for type 2 diabetes cannot be addressed. Type 2 diabetes is more common in children with one or more family members who have the condition, and various ethnic and racial groupings are more prone to develop it.
Can type 2 diabetes be prevented?
There are some preventive measures that can be taken in order to reverse diabetes or completely avoid it before it takes it’s high. Some of them can be mentioned below:
1. Controlling weight to Prevent Diabetes:
The single most important cause of type 2 diabetes is being overweight. Overweight people are seven times more likely to acquire type 2 diabetes. Obesity increases your risk of diabetes by 20 to 40 times compared to someone who is healthy weight.
If your weight is over the healthy-weight range, losing weight can assist. If you lose 7-10% of your present weight, your chances of acquiring type 2 diabetes are decreased in half.
2. Get moving to Prevent Diabetes:
Type 2 diabetes is enhanced by inactivity. Muscles’ capacity to utilize insulin and absorb glucose improves when they are worked more frequently and harder. Your insulin-producing cells are less stressed as a result of this. So exchange part of your sitting time for some exercise time.
3. Improving diet to Prevent Diabetes:
Here are some suggestions on them:
a. Refined grains and other highly processed carbohydrates should be avoided in favor of whole grains and whole grain products.
b. Instead of sugary drinks, opt for water, coffee, or tea.
c. Choose fats that are good for you.
d. Choose nuts, legumes, whole grains, chicken, or fish instead of red meat and processed meat.
4. Reducing the consumption of alcohol and smoking to Prevent Diabetes:
To the vast list of health issues associated with smoking, add type 2 diabetes. Smokers are around 50% more likely than nonsmokers to acquire diabetes, and heavy smokers are significantly more at risk. Further, moderate alcohol consumption—up to one drink per day for women, two drinks per day for men—improves insulin’s ability to transport glucose into cells. However, excessive alcohol use raises the risk of diabetes.
Thus, diabetes is greatly preventable by taking several simple steps like keeping weight under control, exercising more, eating a healthy diet and quitting smoking.
To get further assistance with regards to prevention or reversal of diabetes, connect with us at +91 88847 22267 or visit Diabetes Reversal Clinic.
