For a healthier life: five tips for preventing Diabetes

Diabetes affects 284 million people in the whole world. Up to 2030, this number should reach 439 million, according to a forecast announced in November by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), associated with the World Health Organization (WHO).

In reply to the increasing demand for information on the illness, the IDF created in 1991 the World Diabetes Day, annually celebrated on November 14. However, endocrinologist Walter Minicucci, Vice President of the Brazilian Diabetes Society (SBD), says that no one is celebrating this day. “This day was created to draw attention to this very serious problem. If we do nothing, there won’t be enough doctors to treat everyone and we won’t have a health budget that can handle the problem”, warned the doctor. The “doing nothing” refers to modern behavior and eating habits, the main cause of type 2 diabetes.

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Considered to be the largest world initiative concerning diabetes, the date was chosen in tribute to the birth of Canadian scientist Frederick Banting who, together with Charles Best, was responsible for the discovery of insulin in October 1921. Two years later, Banting was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine for this discovery and for the use of insulin in the treatment of diabetics.

The disease arises as a result of the body’s inability to produce insulin; it is characterized by high levels of blood sugar, caused by the inability of the pancreas to produce insulin, which is needed for the body to function well so that it can use the sugar as a main source of energy.

The disease is classified into two groups: type 1 and type 2. Between 5% and 10% of diabetes cases are type 1, which most frequently begins in childhood. These individuals are known as insulin-dependent. Type 2, the most common form of the disease, is found in around 90% of cases. It starts normally in adulthood, but not necessarily, in obese people and with a strong factor of heredity.

For specialists, diabetes is a modern day major epidemic: the number of people with this disease does not grow only in numbers, but also in prevalence and death. At this stage, the disease begins to affect the economic development itself, because treatments are usually costly. Only in the United States, in an example highlighted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) team, healthcare for this problem in 2007 “cost more than US$ 174 billion and should represent an increasingly financial burden in the following years”.

According to research released in October by the CDC in the United States, around one third of adults may develop diabetes by 2050 if they continue to lead sedentary lives and put on weight.

Every year, people who find themselves as diabetics usually blame their hectic life and the lack of time, aside from the influence of new technologies, poor eating habits and a sedentary life. “It’s a set of factors that should make our lives more productive, but that actually ends up compromising productivity due to the higher rate of diseases, a lack of physical stamina, obesity, stress and anxiety,” said the nursing technician and patient reception employee of São Paulo’s Regional Hospital, Denise Turre Limeira. To break this vicious circle then becomes a real challenge.

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Changing Lifestyle

In addition to the already known benefits, such as preventing heart diseases and osteoporosis, reducing cholesterol and hypertension, fighting obesity and many others, physical exercise has an even more important effect: a person able to incorporate physical activity into their daily life finds a new formula for living.

Healthy eating together with physical activity is essential for having a better life. See below five important tips recommended by the Brazilian Diabetes Society:

And don’t forget: if you are going to eat a dessert, choose diet or light and have only one portion. Eating two light portions can equal one super-calorie dessert.