Type 2 diabetes: who is at risk

Type 2 diabetes is 80-90% of all types of diabetes. At the same time, unlike other species, it develops with age – most often people older than 40 suffer from the disease. What is the reason for this and how to prevent the development of this disease.

Features of type 2 diabetes

Diabetes is a hormonal disease, a consequence of impaired metabolic processes. It is characterized by a partial or complete lack of the hormone insulin. In the case of type 1, these disorders are associated with pathology of the pancreas itself, in which it does not produce insulin in principle.  Type 2 diabetes   caused by insulin resistance – the immunity of cells to the hormone. That is, the pancreas works without failures, moreover, insulin can be produced even in increased quantities, but it cannot perform its functions.

The hormone insulin is necessary for the body to enter the blood.   glucose   (main source of energy) could be absorbed by the cells. In diabetes, this does not occur, in part or in full. As a result, the amount of sugar in the blood increases significantly, which leads to various complications.Including, to diseases of the cardiovascular system – atherosclerosis, coronary heart disease and myocardial infarction.

The disease is incurable, however, type 2 diabetes, especially in the early stages, can be controlled. This is due to the fact that insulin is still produced by the body and with the right load can cope with the incoming amount of glucose. In addition, the early harbinger of type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance, develops over the years and with proper treatment can be stopped.

Signs of diabetes and insulin resistance

Often people with type 2 diabetes do not pay attention to the symptoms that appear in the early stages. Moreover, according to statistics, a quarter of patients simply do not know about their condition. Insulin resistance is not diagnosed until the condition becomes critical. For example, hyperglycemia develops, myocardial or kidney infarction occurs, vision is disturbed, and so on.

Starting from 40-45 years, attention should be paid to the possible symptoms of the disease and, if they are detected, consult an endocrinologist. Characteristic signs of diabetes in the early stages are:

  • Great thirst, especially at night.
  • The feeling of hunger, which does not pass after a meal.
  • Fatigue, weakness.
  • Excess weight.
  • Tendency to fungal skin infections. Itching and poorly healing wounds may occur.
  • Frequent urging to the toilet.
  • Visual impairment.
  • Sexual dysfunction.

If these signs of diabetes are fixed, you need to check blood sugar levels. Normal on an empty stomach, the indicator should be no more than 5.0 mmol / l. About an hour after eating, the value should stabilize to 5.5 mmol / l of blood. Check   blood sugar   can be both a home glucometer, and in the clinic or medical laboratory. If you find signs of diabetes, it is better to take measurements for several days – this will help the endocrinologist to quickly determine the stage of the disease.

Heredity as a risk factor for diabetes

Diabetes mellitus type 2 is usually attributed to hereditary diseases. However, if in the case of type 1 diabetes, the disease itself is inherited, then here predisposition is inherited – factors that trigger the disease:

  • Tendency to corpulence.
  • Problems with fat metabolism.
  • Metabolic disorders.

Therefore, with proper prophylaxis and timely start of treatment, if you detect signs of diabetes, type 2 disease may not develop even in people with a genetic predisposition. However, it should be borne in mind that if there are diabetics in the family, then the risk of developing the disease is more than 60-80%. With type 1 diabetes, this percentage is significantly lower – 1-10%.

People who have at least one of the parents suffering from type 2 diabetes need to be especially careful about their health. In particular, the constant monitoring of blood sugar and preventive visits to an endocrinologist will help detect the disease in time.

The disease most often develops after 45 years, but more and more often the disease is fixed in younger people. Therefore, an annual consultation with an endocrinologist is necessary from the age of 35 in the event that there are no symptoms. If the above signs of diabetes are manifested earlier, a doctor should be enrolled without delay – WHO notes that cases have been recorded even among children. The absence of the factor of heredity does not exclude diabetes in humans, since type 2 disease is in most cases caused by an abnormal lifestyle.

Obesity and related risks

Obesity   is the second most important factor after heredity. It is overweight that significantly increases the risk of developing diabetes.

First of all, this is due to the fact that a person suffering from obesity often has a persistent eating disorder – overeating, eating excessive amounts of simple carbohydrate foods (flour, sweet, bread, etc.). Such eating habits lead to the fact that the level of glucose in the blood is constantly increased, and the pancreas is forced to produce a large amount of insulin to compensate for it. And this eventually leads to the development of insulin resistance – the first and main sign of type 2 diabetes. In this case, the normalization of nutrition and a special diet with a low content of simple carbohydrates can eliminate the symptoms of the disease in the early stages and achieve stabilization of blood sugar levels without additional medications.

In obese people, diabetes can develop with various viral infections – chickenpox, rubella, parotitis, influenza. The violation of insulin susceptibility after illness has been observed on the background of obesity. Therefore, body weight control is one of the key in the prevention of type 2 diabetes.

The role of sport in preventing diabetes

Hypodynamia, lack of sufficient physical activity, is also a significant factor leading to the possible development of type 2 diabetes. If there is an illness, sports should be held under the strict supervision of a physician, since excessive loads affect the work of the heart, which in diabetics already suffers. However, even with such a diagnosis, it is impossible to refuse sports.

Today, it has been proven that exercise increases the sensitivity of cells to insulin, because during training, tissues and organs need additional energy. This, in turn, affects the elimination of hormone resistance – it begins to work more efficiently, and the level of sugar in the blood decreases.Therefore, regular exercise is an effective prevention of type 2 diabetes in people with a genetic predisposition – they help delay the development of tissue immunity to the hormone.

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