Diabetes - A Worldwide Epidemic

I am what they call a boarderline diabetic and about 10 years ago my mom passed away because of diabeties. so I make sure that I watch my wieght and thing that I eat and do so that it dont get me. so far so good they say.

Diabetes was once considered a malady of the affluent society. It is no longer so. Today, diabetes makes no distinction between the rich and the poor. It strikes men as well as women, young as well as old, urbanites as well as villagers. All the causative factors of diabetes have still not been discovered. Yet, the known factors have been discussed below: Heredity: A reference to the familial nature of diabetes can be found in ancient medical texts too. Of the total diabetics, more than 46 per cent give a family history of the disease. There are varied opinions about how parents pass on this disease to their children. But none has been able to fully explain how heredity actually acts. Till recent past, it was believed that the hereditary character of diabetes follows the principles of renowned eneticist Mendell, i.e., (1) ·If both the parents are diabetics, all their children get the disease, (2) If one of the parents is a diabetic and another is a diabetes-carrier (one who does not have the disease, but can transmit it), half the number of eir children get the disease, (3) If both the parents are diabetes-carriers, one fourth the number of their children get e disease and (4)" if o'ne of the parent is a diabetic and other is healthy, their children remain free from diabetes. However, detailed studies and surveys have proved the fallacy of this belief. It is often seen that children of diabetic parents are healthy in every respect. In identical twins one child may have diabetes and the other may remain free from the disease. Such diabetics are also seen who have no family history of the disease. Some researchers believe that diabetes develops not cause the person has inherited defective chromosome from i parents but because he has not received that chromosome from his parents, which imparts resistance to this disease. In short, it can be said that even though hereditary factors do play a role in the development of diabetes, to what extent and in what way these factors act is still a mystery. It can be said that hereditary factors can become effective only when certain other exciting environmental factors like obesity, faulty dietary habits and inadequate physical exertion are at work. Obesity: It is said that, 'In diabetes, heredity loads the cannon and obesity pulls the trigger'. This saying clearly indicates the close connection between diabetes and obesity. Overweight persons become easy victims to diabetes. Studies have shown that 60 to 85 per cent of diabetics are overweight. When the second world war led to a decrease in the average weight of people, tbe incidence of diabetes also came down dramatically. The more the obesity, the greater is the mortality rate due to complications of diabetes. Bodyweight which is 30 % below the ideal is an almost, certain guarantee against diabetes. It is not an exaggeration' to say that, 'Diabetes is the lawful wife of obesity'. Incorrect dietary habits: Food can maintain or save life; it can destroy life as well. Proper food serves the purpose of medicine while improper food works as poison and causes disease. We may take pride in calling ourselves highly civilised; but we have started to flout all the norms aboutJhe quality and quantity of food. Attracted to material pleasures, we have become slaves to our tongues. We have deleted bran from the flour; we mostly eat processed foods and refined sugar. In short, we have drifted away from mother nature, thereby "nitiating a rise in the incidence of diabetes. This fact is applicable to all the developing countries which have been . fluenced by western culture and lifestyle. According to a survey, diabetes was rare in the natives of Iceland and Canada, a few years ago. With the advent of processed and nk foods in these regions, the incidence of diabetes shot up ithin a very short time. By offering chocolates, cakes and icecreams too often to our children, by giving the refrigerator a place in our homes and by attending parties every other day, we in fact invite obesity and diabetes.