A wake up call to avert diabetes

After a routine test of her blood sugar 2 year ago, Mrs Madhobi (not a real name), an overweight 45-year-old woman, learned that Type 2 diabetes was bearing down. She had a blood glucose level higher than normal but not yet in the range of diabetes — a condition called prediabetes. Upto 70% of people with prediabetes will go on to develop diabetes, but most of them do not even know they are at higher risk.

While not everyone with the condition will progress to full-blown diabetes, over time, prediabetes can cause much the same underlying damage to body tissues and organs. Prediabetes is a wake-up call for all to act to prevent, delay diabetes or halt these damaging effects.

Mrs Madhobi, who lives in Dhaka, considers herself lucky to have been forewarned. She realised that while she was still relatively healthy, she could make a concerted effort to stay that way.

From the last 2 years, she has kept track of her caloric intake, the kinds and amounts of the carbohydrates she eats, and the overall healthfulness of her diet. She exercises five days a week, walking for 30 minutes. She is down 25 pounds from her top weight.

Mrs Madhobi also monitors her blood sugar routinely and takes a drug called Metformin to help keep it within a normal range. Periodically, her doctor checks her blood level of hemoglobin A1C, another indicator of diabetes, to be sure it has not risen.

With all these, she is trying to keep diabetes at bay. Additionally, these give her healthy habits that are crucial to maintain health at or above her age.

Diabetes is now an out-of-control epidemic responsible for a devastating toll in health, lives and medical care costs. Among its serious complications are heart disease, stroke, kidney damage, nerve damage, eye disease (which can lead to blindness), foot damage (which can lead to amputations) and hearing loss. In fact, diabetes is the No. 1 cause of blindness, kidney failure, amputations and leads to some serious complications are heart disease, stroke, nerve damage and hearing loss. If this tsunami continues to roll forward, experts predict that by 2050 the number of adults with diabetes will reach one in three.

But how can we avert the rising trend? In theory, it is possible to avert the impending health crisis. Because complications typically take 20 years to become apparent, identifying people at risk of diabetes early and taking corrective action could delay onset of the disease and its devastating consequences, perhaps for the rest of their lives.

The American Diabetes Association has created a simple seven-question test to help people assess their risk; a paper copy can be found at www.diabetes.org. Important factors include a family history of the disease, prior gestational diabetes, being overweight or obese, physical inactivity and older age.

So, when you have a diagnosis of prediabetes, it is not over yet. You still have time to fight and prevent diabetes.

Source: The New York Times