Diabetes is one of those diseases we all 'sort of' know about
— something to do with sugar, right?
Well, if
you 'sort of' know that much, here are some facts you should know for sure:
diabetes can lead to blindness, heart attack, stroke and its incidence has
tripled in the last ten years — there's a new case diagnosed every seven
minutes.
So it
affects millions of us.
But the
good news is, for most people, it's largely preventable. But how?
Our
reporter, Dr Andrew Rochford, is going to put a commonly held belief about
diabetes to the test. Andrew is going to over indulge his sweet tooth — and
it's all in the name of medical research.
Sugar is
often associated with Australia's fastest growing chronic disease — diabetes.
But what we want to know is can too much sugar in your diet actually cause
diabetes?
>Essentially,
diabetes is related to elevated blood sugar levels, so the logic goes, eat more
sugar, get diabetes.
Associate
Professor Maarten Kamp is a diabetes expert at the Gold Coast hospital:
"Currently more than 1.2 million Aussies have diabetes and only half of
those are diagnosed, so half the people with diabetes are unaware of it.
There's a further two million or so people who are at risk of developing
diabetes, having a condition we call pre-diabetes."
It's
forecast that by 2010, 1.8 million Australians will have diabetes. That will
put them at risk of heart disease, strokes, kidney failure, blindness, nerve
damage and a whole host of other nasties.
Here's
how diabetes happens:
To get
the energy we need to survive, our body converts some of the food we eat into
sugars, also known as glucose. At the same time, our pancreas is creating a
hormone called insulin, which acts like a key, binding to cells and allowing
them to absorb that glucose. But people with diabetes don't produce enough
insulin, or that insulin doesn't work properly, so it's like they've lost the
key — the cell door stays locked and the glucose stays in your blood.
"And
that means that whilst there is plenty of glucose in the blood, too much
glucose, and that's what's damaging, and isn't getting into the cells properly
where it's needed to provide energy for the body," says Professor Kamp.
Andrew
also needs to declare a personal interest: "My dad has diabetes and we've
had some scary times with this illness. Diabetics have to keep a careful
balance between insulin and glucose in his body. So my dad has to inject
insulin four times a day. If he gets the balance wrong, then he can fall into a
coma — called a hypo."
Unfortunately
the diabetes has put a lot of strain on my wife and children particularly when
I have hypos in the middle of the night and four and five-year-old kids see
their father being carted down the stairs by ambulance men. Andrew
unfortunately has seen that on a couple of occasions and I'm sure he's not too
happy about it," says Michael Rochford.
Fortunately
those attacks, which can be fatal, are rare.
There are
two types of diabetes, Andrew's dad is a Type 1:
"Type
1 diabetes is predominantly caused by being at risk with having inherited genes
that place people at risk and we think it's then set off by particular types of
infections. It's not absolutely clear what causes Type 1 diabetes," says
Professor Kamp.
But most
people with diabetes, nearly 90 percent of sufferers are Type 2.
"Type
2 diabetes again people have a predisposition to it, genetic predisposition,
but it largely develops as a result of overweight, inactivity, over-nutrition
that we see in our society nowadays," says the Professor.
Type 2
diabetes usually starts around age 45, but a recent report showed children in
Australia are now suffering from the disease.
Which
brings us back to our test…
First
Andrew has his normal insulin and glucose levels recorded through a blood test.
Then comes the good part — a pig-out in a lolly shop.
Andrew:
"It's a tough gig, but I'm up to the challenge … If a sugar overdose can
cause diabetes, all this lot ought to do the trick … Finally a test I can enjoy
— guilt-free."
It sounds
logical — the more you eat, the higher the levels, so after Andrew has binged
for 24 hours he heads off to have his blood sugar levels tested again.
Remember, the body absorbs sugar, by producing insulin, which unlocks the cell
doors. A non-diabetic person produces enough insulin to cope with as much
glucose as we throw at it, and keep the blood sugar normal.
So what
do Andrew's results say?
"Now
on the day when I had the high sugar diet — the diet we should all avoid — my
blood sugar stayed the same, which you'd expect from someone without diabetes.
But my insulin level was through the roof, my pancreas was working overtime to
try and maintain my blood sugar at that level," says Andrew.
But his
system did cope — despite the binge, his blood sugar level stayed normal, and
that means eating sugar is not a direct cause of diabetes.
But if
Andrew kept that high-sugar diet up, he could develop insulin resistance and
he'd certainly put on weight, which is a major problem.
"Obesity
is a very important factor in contributing to diabetes it's certainly the main
factor that's contributing to the epidemic of
diabetes
that we have," says Professor Kamp.
So how do
you know if you have diabetes?
Some of
the symptoms include:
·
Fatigue
·
Passing urine frequently
·
Constant thirst
·
Infections that are slow to heal
If you
are diabetic or at risk of it, diet is one area you can really take control of
to improve your situation.
>Chef
Peter Howard has done just that. Food is Peter's passion, but as he himself
admits, he loved it just a bit too much: "Always eating, always drinking,
not really caring what I was eating and not really caring what I was drinking
just as long it was a lot of both."
But all
that's changed since he was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.
Diabetes
can't be cured but Peter is controlling his condition with diet and exercise —
so far he doesn't need insulin shots. He now walks every day and does weights
and crunches and he's lost 15 kilos.
What did
Peter have to cut out of his diet?
"Mostly
fats, I loved deep fried things so the fats had to go. Sugars … I loved sweet
things, absolutely loved sweet things, just adored them so they just had to go
and I think actually the amount was the thing as well, and the constancy. So
now I do eat very, very well and I eat a lot, but I eat a lot of really good
food and what I'm always looking for is food that's high in fibre."
He's so
passionate about living better, Peter's even brought out his own cookbook with
recipes for good health.
The plain
truth is we're sitting on an obesity time bomb that could explode into a
massive diabetes epidemic. But we can change the future by changing how we eat
right now.
So there
are many causes of diabetes but we're happy to report that sugar isn't one of
them. But does that mean you can stay in a lolly shop and gorge yourself? No,
because if you eat too much sugar then you'll put on weight and obesity is a
risk factor.
So all
the fun aside, diabetes isn't a laughing matter — you can protect yourself with
a healthy diet and regular exercise and if diabetes runs in the family or you
have any concerns go and see your doctor.
· Why do people normally inject insulin instead of taking a pill?
Because if they swallowed it, digestive enzymes would destroy it before the
body could use it.
Source: http://health.ninemsn.com.au/whatsgoodforyou/theshow/694040/can-too-much-sugar-cause-diabetes
