Diabetes is the fastest growing long term disease, in terms of numbers, that affects millions of people worldwide with many sufferers unaware they even have the disease. Figures from the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) indicate that over 371 million people have diabetes and half do not know they have it.
In Nigeria, IDF 2012 figures show that over three million Nigerians between the ages of 20 and 79 years have diabetes, while 2.5 million Nigerians living with the condition are unaware and undiagnosed. It also showed that the country lost 88,681 persons in 2012 due to diabetes-related illnesses and has a 4.83 per cent comparative prevalence, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) standard.
Even more worrying is the fact that the disease is affecting more young people than before. Experts have blamed this trend on certain factors such as lifestyle and diet.
“Type 1 and 2 are the major diabetes common with people,” stated Dr Sanni Olaniyi, the Medical Director of City of Hope Hospital, Apapa, Lagos. “Type 1 can be found in children as a result of lack of insulin and is neither hereditary nor genetic. Type 2 diabetes occurs in older people but now we see persons aged 25 with diabetes. This is as a result of our lifestyle. We tend to eat processed foreign foods unlike in the old days when we ate more of natural foods. That is why we see people develop diabetes at a very young age these days,” he noted.
He terms diabetes as ‘a condition in which the person has high blood glucose (blood sugar), either because insulin production is inadequate or because the body’s cells do not respond properly to insulin or both. Patients with high blood sugar will typically experience polyuria (frequent urination), become increasingly thirsty (polydipsia) and hungry (polyphagia). If you have diabetes, no matter what type, it means you have too much glucose in your blood, although the reasons may differ,” he said.
“Diabetes is the elevation of sugar in the blood as a result of insufficient insulin or insulin deficiency,” said a medical practitioner, Dr Saheed Ogunmola. He noted that the disease is caused by excess intake of fine sugar. “It is not when someone takes sugar the first time but sugar that is stored in the body and is not digested.”
“Also diabetes has two types: Type 1 and Type 2. Type 1 is common among mothers and children. Type 2, is common among the middle aged and the elderly,” he said.
“In type 1, the body does not produce insulin. Some people may refer to this type as insulin-dependent diabetes, juvenile diabetes or early-onset diabetes. People usually develop type 1 diabetes before their 40th year, often in early adulthood or teenage years.” Approximately 10% of all diabetes cases are type 1.
“Patients with type 1 diabetes will need to take insulin injections for the rest of their life. They must also ensure proper blood-glucose levels by carrying out regular blood tests and following a special diet,” Ogunmola added.
In Type 2 diabetes, the body does not produce enough insulin for proper function, or the cells in the body do not react to insulin (insulin resistance). “Type 2 is common among the middle aged,” he stated, noting that 90% of all cases of diabetes worldwide are of this type.
Even the young are affected
In the past diabetes was associated mostly with the elderly and middle aged persons. Now, the young too, including children, are affected; 14-year-old school girl, Sandra Ogochukwu, is one of such children whose life has been blighted by the incurable disease. She was first diagnosed for Type 1 diabetes at 11 in 2010. She has been on medication since then which includes regular shots of insulin as she has insulin-dependent diabetes. She also has to stay away from sugar and sugary foods.
On why the disease affects children and other young people, Dr Godwin M. Inwang, Senior Medical Officer of St. Luke General Hospital, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, had this to say: “It’s the same reason- lack of insulin. Maybe the child has a disease that affects the pancreas which affects the cells that produce the insulin, or not just able to produce insulin, or has been taking things that require so much use of insulin that the body burnt out its reserves.
“For instance, somebody who has had a steady long habit of drinking too much of sugar and non-sugar sweetened things is likely to have it. It is even worse with people who are used to taking non-sugar sweetened things. Because if you take sugar, the brain is sensitive enough to sort it out and decide what quantity the body needs and communicate such message to the necessary cells.
“But in the case of non-sugar sweetened substances, the brain cannot decode it. And that causes a lot of chaos in the body. You know, people say do not take sugar but take sugar substitute, I tell you it is worse because some of those non-sugar substances contain dangerous compounds. That is because, if insulin comes around and does not see sugar, after the sweet taste has attracted it, it causes a whole lot of complexities for the body such as hunger, excessive eating as a result of over stimulation. It is a complex thing because there are so many hormones in the body dealing with insulin.
“In type 2 diabetes, the body has excess insulin, but the insulin is not effective for the body.
Everybody can be affected,” maintained Ogunmola. “Even children are not left out. It’s because the intake of sugar by this set of people is much, which can lead to diabetes,” he explained.
An ailment for life
Since diabetes has no cure, those who have it have to learn to live with and manage it well to avoid complications. Experts warn that if not well managed, it can cause death. “Diabetes is deadly, very deadly,” affirmed Inwang, adding: “Diabetes is deadly because it is associated with various types of complications. One of such complications is that it can lead to sudden death. In the younger people, there is so much insulin in the body which is not used and eventually it leads to coma. If the person is not treated immediately, the person can die. Even if you treat immediately, if you are not careful, you will still lose the person to death.”
“There is so much that too much sugar in the body does. It draws water away from the cells and makes the cells flabby, makes the person dehydrated; increases acid in the body, and then it affects the heart, liver, practically every other organ of the body. Diabetes is very dangerous.”
“Diabetes is usually managed and cannot be treated,” Ogunmola noted, stating that the patient ‘lives with it till death.’
Mr Adeola Akin is one of such sufferers who has been living with the ailment for years. “I’ve been told there’s no cure for it. I just have to take my drugs continuously and watch what I eat,” he said.
On the symptoms, Inwang said: “Early symptoms could show in one being thirsty too often. Not just the love of water but being really thirsty too often. Also, when one complains of thirst too much and passes lots of urine too often. This could be because there is a lot of sugar in the body but it is not entering the cells. It is when sugar enters the cells that the body is satisfied because the cells have something to use, which produces energy. But if sugar does not go to the cells, the person remains hungry and thirsty, though he will continue to eat. Other symptoms are weakness of the body and obesity.”
“Symptoms of diabetes can include excessive drinking of water, weight loss, weight gain depending on the cause of diabetes. It could come in form of coma, unconsciousness, confusion and excessive sweating,” said Dr Adebiyi Ebimisan of Tolu Medical Hospital, Lagos.
He advised people to reduce heavy carbohydrate food items like rice, yam, fufu, eba, which can be supplemented “with moi moi and pap. Use honey instead of sugar, no industrial sweeteners. Diabetes can kill very fast when the blood sugar is not controlled. Diabetes is not communicable, you can’t transfer it to your neighbour.
“Diabetes can affect the sight, breath, skin, bone, heart and kidneys almost every system of the body. People should go for checkups regularly to know their health status,” he said.
Managing the condition
To manage the ailment, experts advocate proper medication as well as a healthy lifestyle.
“If you indulge in taking a lot of sugar, you will burn out your pancreas,” Inwang warned. “You have to eat rationally and sensibly. Most recommended food to take in order to avoid diabetes is to eat farm-fresh foods. Avoid processed foods and you will improve your chances of getting healthy nutrition,” he advised. He also advised people to avoid living an excessive lifestyle, stating: “What you eat or drink contributes a lot to getting diabetes or not. Do not live an excessive life. Do not take unhealthy drinks and avoid sugar and non-sugar sweetened foods.”
He noted that patients may be able to control their type 2 diabetes symptoms by losing weight, following a healthy diet, doing plenty of exercise, and monitoring their blood glucose levels. “However, type 2 diabetes is typically a progressive disease – it gradually gets worse – and the patient will probably end up having to take insulin, usually in tablet form.”
Apart from the genetic factor, experts point out that some people are at risk of diabetes due to their weight and lifestyle choices. For instance, overweight and obese people have a much higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared to those with a healthy body weight. People with a lot of visceral fat, also known as central obesity, belly fat, or abdominal obesity, are especially at risk.
Being overweight, physically inactive and eating the wrong foods all contribute to the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, they warn. Drinking just one can of (non-diet) soda per day can raise the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 22%, researchers from Imperial College London reported in the journal Diabetologia. The scientists believe that the impact of sugary soft drinks on diabetes risk may be a direct one, rather than simply an influence on body weight.
If badly controlled, complications can arise with diabetes. Some of these, according to Ogunmola include male infertility, low ejaculation, Erectile dysfunction (male impotence), obesity, eye complications such as glaucoma and cataracts, foot complications (neuropathy, ulcers and sometimes gangrene which may require that the foot be amputated) and skin disorders.
Others are heart problems, hypertension (common in people with diabetes, which can raise the risk of kidney disease, eye problems, heart attack and stroke), mental health (uncontrolled diabetes raises the risk of suffering from depression, anxiety and some other mental disorders), hearing loss, gum disease, healing of wounds (cuts and lesions take much longer to heal in diabetics), among others.
Diabetes is the fastest growing long term disease, in terms of numbers, that affects millions of people worldwide with many sufferers unaware they even have the disease. Figures from the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) indicate that over 371 million people have diabetes and half do not know they have it.
In Nigeria, IDF 2012 figures show that over three million Nigerians between the ages of 20 and 79 years have diabetes, while 2.5 million Nigerians living with the condition are unaware and undiagnosed. It also showed that the country lost 88,681 persons in 2012 due to diabetes-related illnesses and has a 4.83 per cent comparative prevalence, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) standard.
Even more worrying is the fact that the disease is affecting more young people than before. Experts have blamed this trend on certain factors such as lifestyle and diet.
“Type 1 and 2 are the major diabetes common with people,” stated Dr Sanni Olaniyi, the Medical Director of City of Hope Hospital, Apapa, Lagos. “Type 1 can be found in children as a result of lack of insulin and is neither hereditary nor genetic. Type 2 diabetes occurs in older people but now we see persons aged 25 with diabetes. This is as a result of our lifestyle. We tend to eat processed foreign foods unlike in the old days when we ate more of natural foods. That is why we see people develop diabetes at a very young age these days,” he noted.
He terms diabetes as ‘a condition in which the person has high blood glucose (blood sugar), either because insulin production is inadequate or because the body’s cells do not respond properly to insulin or both. Patients with high blood sugar will typically experience polyuria (frequent urination), become increasingly thirsty (polydipsia) and hungry (polyphagia). If you have diabetes, no matter what type, it means you have too much glucose in your blood, although the reasons may differ,” he said.
“Diabetes is the elevation of sugar in the blood as a result of insufficient insulin or insulin deficiency,” said a medical practitioner, Dr Saheed Ogunmola. He noted that the disease is caused by excess intake of fine sugar. “It is not when someone takes sugar the first time but sugar that is stored in the body and is not digested.”
“Also diabetes has two types: Type 1 and Type 2. Type 1 is common among mothers and children. Type 2, is common among the middle aged and the elderly,” he said.
“In type 1, the body does not produce insulin. Some people may refer to this type as insulin-dependent diabetes, juvenile diabetes or early-onset diabetes. People usually develop type 1 diabetes before their 40th year, often in early adulthood or teenage years.” Approximately 10% of all diabetes cases are type 1.
“Patients with type 1 diabetes will need to take insulin injections for the rest of their life. They must also ensure proper blood-glucose levels by carrying out regular blood tests and following a special diet,” Ogunmola added.
In Type 2 diabetes, the body does not produce enough insulin for proper function, or the cells in the body do not react to insulin (insulin resistance). “Type 2 is common among the middle aged,” he stated, noting that 90% of all cases of diabetes worldwide are of this type.
Even the young are affected
In the past diabetes was associated mostly with the elderly and middle aged persons. Now, the young too, including children, are affected; 14-year-old school girl, Sandra Ogochukwu, is one of such children whose life has been blighted by the incurable disease. She was first diagnosed for Type 1 diabetes at 11 in 2010. She has been on medication since then which includes regular shots of insulin as she has insulin-dependent diabetes. She also has to stay away from sugar and sugary foods.
On why the disease affects children and other young people, Dr Godwin M. Inwang, Senior Medical Officer of St. Luke General Hospital, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, had this to say: “It’s the same reason- lack of insulin. Maybe the child has a disease that affects the pancreas which affects the cells that produce the insulin, or not just able to produce insulin, or has been taking things that require so much use of insulin that the body burnt out its reserves.
“For instance, somebody who has had a steady long habit of drinking too much of sugar and non-sugar sweetened things is likely to have it. It is even worse with people who are used to taking non-sugar sweetened things. Because if you take sugar, the brain is sensitive enough to sort it out and decide what quantity the body needs and communicate such message to the necessary cells.
“But in the case of non-sugar sweetened substances, the brain cannot decode it. And that causes a lot of chaos in the body. You know, people say do not take sugar but take sugar substitute, I tell you it is worse because some of those non-sugar substances contain dangerous compounds. That is because, if insulin comes around and does not see sugar, after the sweet taste has attracted it, it causes a whole lot of complexities for the body such as hunger, excessive eating as a result of over stimulation. It is a complex thing because there are so many hormones in the body dealing with insulin.
“In type 2 diabetes, the body has excess insulin, but the insulin is not effective for the body.
Everybody can be affected,” maintained Ogunmola. “Even children are not left out. It’s because the intake of sugar by this set of people is much, which can lead to diabetes,” he explained.
An ailment for life
Since diabetes has no cure, those who have it have to learn to live with and manage it well to avoid complications. Experts warn that if not well managed, it can cause death. “Diabetes is deadly, very deadly,” affirmed Inwang, adding: “Diabetes is deadly because it is associated with various types of complications. One of such complications is that it can lead to sudden death. In the younger people, there is so much insulin in the body which is not used and eventually it leads to coma. If the person is not treated immediately, the person can die. Even if you treat immediately, if you are not careful, you will still lose the person to death.”
“There is so much that too much sugar in the body does. It draws water away from the cells and makes the cells flabby, makes the person dehydrated; increases acid in the body, and then it affects the heart, liver, practically every other organ of the body. Diabetes is very dangerous.”
“Diabetes is usually managed and cannot be treated,” Ogunmola noted, stating that the patient ‘lives with it till death.’
Mr Adeola Akin is one of such sufferers who has been living with the ailment for years. “I’ve been told there’s no cure for it. I just have to take my drugs continuously and watch what I eat,” he said.
On the symptoms, Inwang said: “Early symptoms could show in one being thirsty too often. Not just the love of water but being really thirsty too often. Also, when one complains of thirst too much and passes lots of urine too often. This could be because there is a lot of sugar in the body but it is not entering the cells. It is when sugar enters the cells that the body is satisfied because the cells have something to use, which produces energy. But if sugar does not go to the cells, the person remains hungry and thirsty, though he will continue to eat. Other symptoms are weakness of the body and obesity.”
“Symptoms of diabetes can include excessive drinking of water, weight loss, weight gain depending on the cause of diabetes. It could come in form of coma, unconsciousness, confusion and excessive sweating,” said Dr Adebiyi Ebimisan of Tolu Medical Hospital, Lagos.
He advised people to reduce heavy carbohydrate food items like rice, yam, fufu, eba, which can be supplemented “with moi moi and pap. Use honey instead of sugar, no industrial sweeteners. Diabetes can kill very fast when the blood sugar is not controlled. Diabetes is not communicable, you can’t transfer it to your neighbour.
“Diabetes can affect the sight, breath, skin, bone, heart and kidneys almost every system of the body. People should go for checkups regularly to know their health status,” he said.
Managing the condition
To manage the ailment, experts advocate proper medication as well as a healthy lifestyle.
“If you indulge in taking a lot of sugar, you will burn out your pancreas,” Inwang warned. “You have to eat rationally and sensibly. Most recommended food to take in order to avoid diabetes is to eat farm-fresh foods. Avoid processed foods and you will improve your chances of getting healthy nutrition,” he advised. He also advised people to avoid living an excessive lifestyle, stating: “What you eat or drink contributes a lot to getting diabetes or not. Do not live an excessive life. Do not take unhealthy drinks and avoid sugar and non-sugar sweetened foods.”
He noted that patients may be able to control their type 2 diabetes symptoms by losing weight, following a healthy diet, doing plenty of exercise, and monitoring their blood glucose levels. “However, type 2 diabetes is typically a progressive disease – it gradually gets worse – and the patient will probably end up having to take insulin, usually in tablet form.”
Apart from the genetic factor, experts point out that some people are at risk of diabetes due to their weight and lifestyle choices. For instance, overweight and obese people have a much higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared to those with a healthy body weight. People with a lot of visceral fat, also known as central obesity, belly fat, or abdominal obesity, are especially at risk.
Being overweight, physically inactive and eating the wrong foods all contribute to the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, they warn. Drinking just one can of (non-diet) soda per day can raise the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 22%, researchers from Imperial College London reported in the journal Diabetologia. The scientists believe that the impact of sugary soft drinks on diabetes risk may be a direct one, rather than simply an influence on body weight.
If badly controlled, complications can arise with diabetes. Some of these, according to Ogunmola include male infertility, low ejaculation, Erectile dysfunction (male impotence), obesity, eye complications such as glaucoma and cataracts, foot complications (neuropathy, ulcers and sometimes gangrene which may require that the foot be amputated) and skin disorders.
Others are heart problems, hypertension (common in people with diabetes, which can raise the risk of kidney disease, eye problems, heart attack and stroke), mental health (uncontrolled diabetes raises the risk of suffering from depression, anxiety and some other mental disorders), hearing loss, gum disease, healing of wounds (cuts and lesions take much longer to heal in diabetics), among others.
Diabetes is the fastest growing long term disease, in terms of numbers, that affects millions of people worldwide with many sufferers unaware they even have the disease. Figures from the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) indicate that over 371 million people have diabetes and half do not know they have it.
In Nigeria, IDF 2012 figures show that over three million Nigerians between the ages of 20 and 79 years have diabetes, while 2.5 million Nigerians living with the condition are unaware and undiagnosed. It also showed that the country lost 88,681 persons in 2012 due to diabetes-related illnesses and has a 4.83 per cent comparative prevalence, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) standard.
Even more worrying is the fact that the disease is affecting more young people than before. Experts have blamed this trend on certain factors such as lifestyle and diet.
“Type 1 and 2 are the major diabetes common with people,” stated Dr Sanni Olaniyi, the Medical Director of City of Hope Hospital, Apapa, Lagos. “Type 1 can be found in children as a result of lack of insulin and is neither hereditary nor genetic. Type 2 diabetes occurs in older people but now we see persons aged 25 with diabetes. This is as a result of our lifestyle. We tend to eat processed foreign foods unlike in the old days when we ate more of natural foods. That is why we see people develop diabetes at a very young age these days,” he noted.
He terms diabetes as ‘a condition in which the person has high blood glucose (blood sugar), either because insulin production is inadequate or because the body’s cells do not respond properly to insulin or both. Patients with high blood sugar will typically experience polyuria (frequent urination), become increasingly thirsty (polydipsia) and hungry (polyphagia). If you have diabetes, no matter what type, it means you have too much glucose in your blood, although the reasons may differ,” he said.
“Diabetes is the elevation of sugar in the blood as a result of insufficient insulin or insulin deficiency,” said a medical practitioner, Dr Saheed Ogunmola. He noted that the disease is caused by excess intake of fine sugar. “It is not when someone takes sugar the first time but sugar that is stored in the body and is not digested.”
“Also diabetes has two types: Type 1 and Type 2. Type 1 is common among mothers and children. Type 2, is common among the middle aged and the elderly,” he said.
“In type 1, the body does not produce insulin. Some people may refer to this type as insulin-dependent diabetes, juvenile diabetes or early-onset diabetes. People usually develop type 1 diabetes before their 40th year, often in early adulthood or teenage years.” Approximately 10% of all diabetes cases are type 1.
“Patients with type 1 diabetes will need to take insulin injections for the rest of their life. They must also ensure proper blood-glucose levels by carrying out regular blood tests and following a special diet,” Ogunmola added.
In Type 2 diabetes, the body does not produce enough insulin for proper function, or the cells in the body do not react to insulin (insulin resistance). “Type 2 is common among the middle aged,” he stated, noting that 90% of all cases of diabetes worldwide are of this type.
Even the young are affected
In the past diabetes was associated mostly with the elderly and middle aged persons. Now, the young too, including children, are affected; 14-year-old school girl, Sandra Ogochukwu, is one of such children whose life has been blighted by the incurable disease. She was first diagnosed for Type 1 diabetes at 11 in 2010. She has been on medication since then which includes regular shots of insulin as she has insulin-dependent diabetes. She also has to stay away from sugar and sugary foods.
On why the disease affects children and other young people, Dr Godwin M. Inwang, Senior Medical Officer of St. Luke General Hospital, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, had this to say: “It’s the same reason- lack of insulin. Maybe the child has a disease that affects the pancreas which affects the cells that produce the insulin, or not just able to produce insulin, or has been taking things that require so much use of insulin that the body burnt out its reserves.
“For instance, somebody who has had a steady long habit of drinking too much of sugar and non-sugar sweetened things is likely to have it. It is even worse with people who are used to taking non-sugar sweetened things. Because if you take sugar, the brain is sensitive enough to sort it out and decide what quantity the body needs and communicate such message to the necessary cells.
“But in the case of non-sugar sweetened substances, the brain cannot decode it. And that causes a lot of chaos in the body. You know, people say do not take sugar but take sugar substitute, I tell you it is worse because some of those non-sugar substances contain dangerous compounds. That is because, if insulin comes around and does not see sugar, after the sweet taste has attracted it, it causes a whole lot of complexities for the body such as hunger, excessive eating as a result of over stimulation. It is a complex thing because there are so many hormones in the body dealing with insulin.
“In type 2 diabetes, the body has excess insulin, but the insulin is not effective for the body.
Everybody can be affected,” maintained Ogunmola. “Even children are not left out. It’s because the intake of sugar by this set of people is much, which can lead to diabetes,” he explained.
An ailment for life
Since diabetes has no cure, those who have it have to learn to live with and manage it well to avoid complications. Experts warn that if not well managed, it can cause death. “Diabetes is deadly, very deadly,” affirmed Inwang, adding: “Diabetes is deadly because it is associated with various types of complications. One of such complications is that it can lead to sudden death. In the younger people, there is so much insulin in the body which is not used and eventually it leads to coma. If the person is not treated immediately, the person can die. Even if you treat immediately, if you are not careful, you will still lose the person to death.”
“There is so much that too much sugar in the body does. It draws water away from the cells and makes the cells flabby, makes the person dehydrated; increases acid in the body, and then it affects the heart, liver, practically every other organ of the body. Diabetes is very dangerous.”
“Diabetes is usually managed and cannot be treated,” Ogunmola noted, stating that the patient ‘lives with it till death.’
Mr Adeola Akin is one of such sufferers who has been living with the ailment for years. “I’ve been told there’s no cure for it. I just have to take my drugs continuously and watch what I eat,” he said.
On the symptoms, Inwang said: “Early symptoms could show in one being thirsty too often. Not just the love of water but being really thirsty too often. Also, when one complains of thirst too much and passes lots of urine too often. This could be because there is a lot of sugar in the body but it is not entering the cells. It is when sugar enters the cells that the body is satisfied because the cells have something to use, which produces energy. But if sugar does not go to the cells, the person remains hungry and thirsty, though he will continue to eat. Other symptoms are weakness of the body and obesity.”
“Symptoms of diabetes can include excessive drinking of water, weight loss, weight gain depending on the cause of diabetes. It could come in form of coma, unconsciousness, confusion and excessive sweating,” said Dr Adebiyi Ebimisan of Tolu Medical Hospital, Lagos.
He advised people to reduce heavy carbohydrate food items like rice, yam, fufu, eba, which can be supplemented “with moi moi and pap. Use honey instead of sugar, no industrial sweeteners. Diabetes can kill very fast when the blood sugar is not controlled. Diabetes is not communicable, you can’t transfer it to your neighbour.
“Diabetes can affect the sight, breath, skin, bone, heart and kidneys almost every system of the body. People should go for checkups regularly to know their health status,” he said.
Managing the condition
To manage the ailment, experts advocate proper medication as well as a healthy lifestyle.
“If you indulge in taking a lot of sugar, you will burn out your pancreas,” Inwang warned. “You have to eat rationally and sensibly. Most recommended food to take in order to avoid diabetes is to eat farm-fresh foods. Avoid processed foods and you will improve your chances of getting healthy nutrition,” he advised. He also advised people to avoid living an excessive lifestyle, stating: “What you eat or drink contributes a lot to getting diabetes or not. Do not live an excessive life. Do not take unhealthy drinks and avoid sugar and non-sugar sweetened foods.”
He noted that patients may be able to control their type 2 diabetes symptoms by losing weight, following a healthy diet, doing plenty of exercise, and monitoring their blood glucose levels. “However, type 2 diabetes is typically a progressive disease – it gradually gets worse – and the patient will probably end up having to take insulin, usually in tablet form.”
Apart from the genetic factor, experts point out that some people are at risk of diabetes due to their weight and lifestyle choices. For instance, overweight and obese people have a much higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared to those with a healthy body weight. People with a lot of visceral fat, also known as central obesity, belly fat, or abdominal obesity, are especially at risk.
Being overweight, physically inactive and eating the wrong foods all contribute to the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, they warn. Drinking just one can of (non-diet) soda per day can raise the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 22%, researchers from Imperial College London reported in the journal Diabetologia. The scientists believe that the impact of sugary soft drinks on diabetes risk may be a direct one, rather than simply an influence on body weight.
If badly controlled, complications can arise with diabetes. Some of these, according to Ogunmola include male infertility, low ejaculation, Erectile dysfunction (male impotence), obesity, eye complications such as glaucoma and cataracts, foot complications (neuropathy, ulcers and sometimes gangrene which may require that the foot be amputated) and skin disorders.
Others are heart problems, hypertension (common in people with diabetes, which can raise the risk of kidney disease, eye problems, heart attack and stroke), mental health (uncontrolled diabetes raises the risk of suffering from depression, anxiety and some other mental disorders), hearing loss, gum disease, healing of wounds (cuts and lesions take much longer to heal in diabetics), among others.
Diabetes is the fastest growing long term disease, in terms of numbers, that affects millions of people worldwide with many sufferers unaware they even have the disease. Figures from the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) indicate that over 371 million people have diabetes and half do not know they have it.
In Nigeria, IDF 2012 figures show that over three million Nigerians between the ages of 20 and 79 years have diabetes, while 2.5 million Nigerians living with the condition are unaware and undiagnosed. It also showed that the country lost 88,681 persons in 2012 due to diabetes-related illnesses and has a 4.83 per cent comparative prevalence, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) standard.
Even more worrying is the fact that the disease is affecting more young people than before. Experts have blamed this trend on certain factors such as lifestyle and diet.
“Type 1 and 2 are the major diabetes common with people,” stated Dr Sanni Olaniyi, the Medical Director of City of Hope Hospital, Apapa, Lagos. “Type 1 can be found in children as a result of lack of insulin and is neither hereditary nor genetic. Type 2 diabetes occurs in older people but now we see persons aged 25 with diabetes. This is as a result of our lifestyle. We tend to eat processed foreign foods unlike in the old days when we ate more of natural foods. That is why we see people develop diabetes at a very young age these days,” he noted.
He terms diabetes as ‘a condition in which the person has high blood glucose (blood sugar), either because insulin production is inadequate or because the body’s cells do not respond properly to insulin or both. Patients with high blood sugar will typically experience polyuria (frequent urination), become increasingly thirsty (polydipsia) and hungry (polyphagia). If you have diabetes, no matter what type, it means you have too much glucose in your blood, although the reasons may differ,” he said.
“Diabetes is the elevation of sugar in the blood as a result of insufficient insulin or insulin deficiency,” said a medical practitioner, Dr Saheed Ogunmola. He noted that the disease is caused by excess intake of fine sugar. “It is not when someone takes sugar the first time but sugar that is stored in the body and is not digested.”
“Also diabetes has two types: Type 1 and Type 2. Type 1 is common among mothers and children. Type 2, is common among the middle aged and the elderly,” he said.
“In type 1, the body does not produce insulin. Some people may refer to this type as insulin-dependent diabetes, juvenile diabetes or early-onset diabetes. People usually develop type 1 diabetes before their 40th year, often in early adulthood or teenage years.” Approximately 10% of all diabetes cases are type 1.
“Patients with type 1 diabetes will need to take insulin injections for the rest of their life. They must also ensure proper blood-glucose levels by carrying out regular blood tests and following a special diet,” Ogunmola added.
In Type 2 diabetes, the body does not produce enough insulin for proper function, or the cells in the body do not react to insulin (insulin resistance). “Type 2 is common among the middle aged,” he stated, noting that 90% of all cases of diabetes worldwide are of this type.
Even the young are affected
In the past diabetes was associated mostly with the elderly and middle aged persons. Now, the young too, including children, are affected; 14-year-old school girl, Sandra Ogochukwu, is one of such children whose life has been blighted by the incurable disease. She was first diagnosed for Type 1 diabetes at 11 in 2010. She has been on medication since then which includes regular shots of insulin as she has insulin-dependent diabetes. She also has to stay away from sugar and sugary foods.
On why the disease affects children and other young people, Dr Godwin M. Inwang, Senior Medical Officer of St. Luke General Hospital, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, had this to say: “It’s the same reason- lack of insulin. Maybe the child has a disease that affects the pancreas which affects the cells that produce the insulin, or not just able to produce insulin, or has been taking things that require so much use of insulin that the body burnt out its reserves.
“For instance, somebody who has had a steady long habit of drinking too much of sugar and non-sugar sweetened things is likely to have it. It is even worse with people who are used to taking non-sugar sweetened things. Because if you take sugar, the brain is sensitive enough to sort it out and decide what quantity the body needs and communicate such message to the necessary cells.
“But in the case of non-sugar sweetened substances, the brain cannot decode it. And that causes a lot of chaos in the body. You know, people say do not take sugar but take sugar substitute, I tell you it is worse because some of those non-sugar substances contain dangerous compounds. That is because, if insulin comes around and does not see sugar, after the sweet taste has attracted it, it causes a whole lot of complexities for the body such as hunger, excessive eating as a result of over stimulation. It is a complex thing because there are so many hormones in the body dealing with insulin.
“In type 2 diabetes, the body has excess insulin, but the insulin is not effective for the body.
Everybody can be affected,” maintained Ogunmola. “Even children are not left out. It’s because the intake of sugar by this set of people is much, which can lead to diabetes,” he explained.
An ailment for life
Since diabetes has no cure, those who have it have to learn to live with and manage it well to avoid complications. Experts warn that if not well managed, it can cause death. “Diabetes is deadly, very deadly,” affirmed Inwang, adding: “Diabetes is deadly because it is associated with various types of complications. One of such complications is that it can lead to sudden death. In the younger people, there is so much insulin in the body which is not used and eventually it leads to coma. If the person is not treated immediately, the person can die. Even if you treat immediately, if you are not careful, you will still lose the person to death.”
“There is so much that too much sugar in the body does. It draws water away from the cells and makes the cells flabby, makes the person dehydrated; increases acid in the body, and then it affects the heart, liver, practically every other organ of the body. Diabetes is very dangerous.”
“Diabetes is usually managed and cannot be treated,” Ogunmola noted, stating that the patient ‘lives with it till death.’
Mr Adeola Akin is one of such sufferers who has been living with the ailment for years. “I’ve been told there’s no cure for it. I just have to take my drugs continuously and watch what I eat,” he said.
On the symptoms, Inwang said: “Early symptoms could show in one being thirsty too often. Not just the love of water but being really thirsty too often. Also, when one complains of thirst too much and passes lots of urine too often. This could be because there is a lot of sugar in the body but it is not entering the cells. It is when sugar enters the cells that the body is satisfied because the cells have something to use, which produces energy. But if sugar does not go to the cells, the person remains hungry and thirsty, though he will continue to eat. Other symptoms are weakness of the body and obesity.”
“Symptoms of diabetes can include excessive drinking of water, weight loss, weight gain depending on the cause of diabetes. It could come in form of coma, unconsciousness, confusion and excessive sweating,” said Dr Adebiyi Ebimisan of Tolu Medical Hospital, Lagos.
He advised people to reduce heavy carbohydrate food items like rice, yam, fufu, eba, which can be supplemented “with moi moi and pap. Use honey instead of sugar, no industrial sweeteners. Diabetes can kill very fast when the blood sugar is not controlled. Diabetes is not communicable, you can’t transfer it to your neighbour.
“Diabetes can affect the sight, breath, skin, bone, heart and kidneys almost every system of the body. People should go for checkups regularly to know their health status,” he said.
Managing the condition
To manage the ailment, experts advocate proper medication as well as a healthy lifestyle.
“If you indulge in taking a lot of sugar, you will burn out your pancreas,” Inwang warned. “You have to eat rationally and sensibly. Most recommended food to take in order to avoid diabetes is to eat farm-fresh foods. Avoid processed foods and you will improve your chances of getting healthy nutrition,” he advised. He also advised people to avoid living an excessive lifestyle, stating: “What you eat or drink contributes a lot to getting diabetes or not. Do not live an excessive life. Do not take unhealthy drinks and avoid sugar and non-sugar sweetened foods.”
He noted that patients may be able to control their type 2 diabetes symptoms by losing weight, following a healthy diet, doing plenty of exercise, and monitoring their blood glucose levels. “However, type 2 diabetes is typically a progressive disease – it gradually gets worse – and the patient will probably end up having to take insulin, usually in tablet form.”
Apart from the genetic factor, experts point out that some people are at risk of diabetes due to their weight and lifestyle choices. For instance, overweight and obese people have a much higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared to those with a healthy body weight. People with a lot of visceral fat, also known as central obesity, belly fat, or abdominal obesity, are especially at risk.
Being overweight, physically inactive and eating the wrong foods all contribute to the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, they warn. Drinking just one can of (non-diet) soda per day can raise the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 22%, researchers from Imperial College London reported in the journal Diabetologia. The scientists believe that the impact of sugary soft drinks on diabetes risk may be a direct one, rather than simply an influence on body weight.
If badly controlled, complications can arise with diabetes. Some of these, according to Ogunmola include male infertility, low ejaculation, Erectile dysfunction (male impotence), obesity, eye complications such as glaucoma and cataracts, foot complications (neuropathy, ulcers and sometimes gangrene which may require that the foot be amputated) and skin disorders.
Others are heart problems, hypertension (common in people with diabetes, which can raise the risk of kidney disease, eye problems, heart attack and stroke), mental health (uncontrolled diabetes raises the risk of suffering from depression, anxiety and some other mental disorders), hearing loss, gum disease, healing of wounds (cuts and lesions take much longer to heal in diabetics), among others.
