Why has the number of diabetics increased so markedly in the past few decades?!
Question: If you could provide a reference that would be great. If not, it's okay.
Answers: If you could provide a reference that would be great. If not, it's okay.
Alex, you're right, Luwayla is very sweet!
The answer depends on what type of diabetes you're asking about. There are a number of types of diabetes and there are different factors involved.
Type 2 is the most prevalent, and receives the most attention. Type 2 diabetics are on the rise because more people are obese and fewer people exercise. Though, diet and exercise is not always a factor ... there are thin and fit type 2's. They show up in this section now and then to angrily remind us of this :o) So heredity is a big factor too.
Type 2 is caused when the insulin your body produces becomes less effective.
I think type 1 is the next most common. My 2 year old daughter is a recently diagnosed type 1, so I do know something about this. The most important thing to remember about type 1 is that it has nothing to do with weight, exercise and diet. There is some mystery surrounding the causes of it. They know it's partly hereditary, but not in the traditional sense. It has to do with certain combinations of genes ... you can get the genes from one parent or a combination of genes from one of each parent. And then there is an environmental factor ... they don't know what it is yet, though there are some theories. It's a chemical, or more likely a virus.
What's really strange is that out of a pair of identical twins, one can develop it and the other won't get it at all. It happens a lot. 90% of people diagnosed with type 1 have no family history. And if you have a sibling with it, you have a 5% chance of developing it yourself.
What happens in type 1 is that your immune system is battling this "environmental factor", whatever it is ... and it gets confused and starts killing off beta cells, which are what produces the insulin that breaks down the sugars in your body. Eventually your body can't make insulin anymore ... which is what type 1 diabetes is. That is an over simplified definition, but good enough for now.
There has recently been a marked increase of type 1 diabetics, but no one knows why.
There is also a third type of diabetes that is sometimes called 1 1/2, though many doctors say it's just another kind of type 1. Traditional type 1 only happens to younger people. But older people can develop it if they are having certain other health problems. I don't know much about this one ... but I will find you a link if I have the time after all this talking I'm doing, LOL
The types of diabetes I told you about above are all diabetes mellitus. There is another type of diabetes that is quite rare, called diabetes insipidus. It doesn't have anything to do with blood sugar levels or insulin. It has to do with a chemical missing in the brain due to injury or defect. This chemical regulates your kidneys, telling them to hold water for the body to use. When you don't have the chemical, liquids run through you so fast that your body can't use them properly ... and you can get dehydrated dangerously quickly.
Hopefully this has answered your question somewhat! If I have time later I will try to hunt down some links for you, but for now I have to go.
The commonly held belief is the current epidemic of obesity in this country, especially in younger children. Being overweight is a prime factor in the tendency to develop type II diabetes. Sorry, no reference.
you are so sweet !
what u are looking for that is my answer
because everyone is fat
Type 2 runs rampid because kids dont go outside for excercise anymore! They play video games, use remote control, and there's a fast food joint at every corner. Type 2 has always been around, but we made it so much easier for it to say "ta da!" by getting so lazy.
three things mainly;
1. obesity is only one of them.
2. couch potatoes are diabetes waiting to happen.
3. better and earlier diagnosis.
Yes it is true.
In young we are more active and burn all what we eat. As we get older, we become less active, but our eating habit does not change. We keep eating same amount of food and get fat in forties and fifties.
Before I watched tv's couple hours a evening. It didn't affect my weight because I worked ten hours a day. After I became disabled from Artheritis and couldn't work, I spent more time in front of tv and started gaining weight because my eating habit didn't change.
In 1997 I bought first computer also and wife started pushing me on to computer so she can watch her soap opera. Since then either I was on couch watching tv or I was on computer. This made both of us diabetic which added one more pill with our other several prescriptions to be taken daily. Now I eat only half what I ate before and weight has stopped increasing but it doesn't go down. And doctor says you must eat little but four or five times a day. There is no way I can loose weight