Diabetes is a very important public health problem."It has become the epidemic of the 21st century," according to experts in the field.It is that situation in which sugar levels (or glucose) in the blood are increased.It is a chronic and incurable disease.Therefore, today, prevention is the best treatment.The diagnosis can be confirmed by a doctor through a blood test.
The Endocrine José Ramón Calle, collaborator of the Diabetes Foundation, reminds Infosalus that, at the beginning of 2012, a study was published that collected that 13.8% of people over 18 in Spain have type 2 diabetes, type 2,While 14.8% have factors that predispose diabetes.It also recalls that 85% of people with type 2 diabetes are overweight.Therefore, it argues that fighting said excess of kilos, and leading a healthy lifestyle, the percentage of diabetics will be decreased.
Prevention and risk people
When talking about prevention, Dr. Calle emphasizes that you also have to take into account those who do not have it but are at risk of suffering from it.This would be the case for example of the relatives of those who already suffer from it, or of the women who have presented gestational diabetes, who have given birth of more than 4 kilos, of the obese people, women with polycystic ovaries, people with hypertensionor hyperlipemia, sedentary people or with cardiovascular disease, for example, indicates the person responsible for the insulin bomb unit of the Clinical Hospital of Madrid.
In addition, he points out that there is a situation that some call "prediabetes", which includes people who, without reaching diabetes diagnostic criteria, have glucose values above the ideal.
Guidelines to prevent diabetes
Thus, the diabetes specialist emphasizes that to prevent this disease it is important to lead a healthy lifestyle:
1.- Exercise: "Walking is exercise and it is better than sitting, but when talking about physical activity, it would be recommended to do 150 minutes of aerobic exercise a week. For example, swim, run, dance, team sports, and distributed in several days, so that they do not spend more than two consecutive days without exercising.
2.- As for food, follow a varied healthy diet, eat a lot of fruit vegetables and vegetables, and a predominance of vegetable fat, preferably monounsaturated, such as olive oil, nuts and avocado."It is fat that gives you calories but transports cholesterol through the blood and eliminates it, while that of animal origin is the one that accumulates and obstructs the arteries and from there the complications arise," he says.It is advisable to consume mild -skimmed dairy products, legumes, cereals, fish and birds better than meat, and when it is cooked to make it grilled, avoiding rebobed and empanados.
3.- People at risk and prediabetics who are careful.All these people must undergo special surveillance, monitoring glucose levels.
4.- It is also considered that from 45 years the glucose must be monitored, even if no risk factor occurs.
5- You don't have to miss more than 3 years before measuring glucose.
Types of diabetes
Finally, Dr. Calle, a specialist in the Madrid Clinical Hospital San Carlos distinguishes between these types of diabetes:
- Type 1 diabetes: It usually develops before 30. Predominates in men.Suddenly appears.The person who suffers it maintains a normal body mass index.There is no way to prevent it and it is already known that these people have to prick several times a day, apart fromMeasure glucose.There are studies that have tried to find a preventive strategy but today it cannot be prevented.It does not usually count the genetic load in its appearance.
- Type 2 diabetes: It usually develops after 30. Predominates in women.It has a progressive, slow appearance.It is tremendously extended.The person who suffers from it has an increased body mass index, often overweight.At least in the first years there is no dependence on insulin. It has more genetic basis.However, there are tools to avoid it."Although the two parents, some brother or family has it, if a healthy lifestyle is followed, the risk of spectacularly can be reduced because this diabetes develops due to obesity, and lifestyle," he warns.
-In women with gestational diabetes, he explains that there is a "clear trend" to develop diabetes in the future."They have given birth and in theory no longer have to suffer from it, but you have to make tests to make sure that the disease has disappeared," he emphasizes.
Of course, it states that you have to differentiate women who already had diabetes before becoming pregnant from those who have gestational diabetes, much more frequent but also much easier to treat.While in most cases of gestational diabetes it will suffice with lifestyle standards to achieve control objectives, in the case of women with diabetes before pregnancy, it will always be necessary to deal with medications.
