Diabetes is a medical condition you might have heard of at one time or another; perhaps one of your parents or grandparents has the disease, or you went to school with someone who has it. However, despite how common diabetes is, there’s still a chronic lack of knowledge about the subject in society at large.
Here are 5 facts you should know to get a good grasp of diabetes.
Diabetes Doesn’t Show Up in The Ways You Might Think
Many different symptoms arise when diabetes is present that indicate it’s a problem, like unexplained weight loss, frequent urination, or slow-healing wounds. In many cases, though, diabetes doesn’t manifest in any concrete sort of way that someone would normally notice. For instance, diabetics often have sweet-tasting urine due to an increased expulsion of sugar from the body, which is something that often goes undetected.
Eating Sugar Doesn’t Actually Cause Diabetes
While sugar does play an indirect role in the development of diabetes, the consumption of sugar doesn’t actually cause the condition. The exact causes of diabetes are far-ranging and often poorly understood, but they’re primarily linked to either a lack of proper pancreas function or an inability for cells to utilize insulin. Sugar doesn’t directly contribute to either of these, but sugar consumption is linked to being overweight, which is a major risk factor for type 2 diabetes.
Diabetes Isn’t Just A Singular Type of Condition
People are generally familiar with type 1 (juvenile) and type 2 (adult onset) diabetes, but there are actually several other variants of diabetes.
Monogenic diabetes, when someone inherits a faulty gene, cystic fibrosis-related diabetes, and gestational diabetes, when someone develops diabetes while pregnant, are less common, but still just as serious, forms of the condition.
A1C Levels Say A Lot
The hemoglobin A1C test is a revolutionary concept that allows doctors to observe glucose activity in their patients over the past three months. It can tell someone if they have diabetes or are at risk for it by measuring the amount of sugar attached to their red blood cells as hemoglobin is primarily used to transport glucose throughout the body.
Diabetics Still Have A Normal Diet
Although diabetes can cause some complications with people’s dietary decisions, it doesn’t mean a ton of foods are off-limits. Diabetics can eat pretty much anything so long as they pay attention to their insulin levels. It is true that foods high in carbohydrates should generally be minimized for health reasons, but they can still be incorporated into most everyday diets and are, in fact, very useful for preventing low blood sugar levels, a significant issue for type 1 diabetics.
Knowing More
Diabetes is a medical condition millions of people have to contend with on a day-to-day basis. It can be a challenge in many respects, but having a decent level of diabetes information at your fingertips can increase your ability to help others suffering from diabetes complications. Visit Tandem Diabetes Care to learn more.
