Kishana Beneby, Minot

Has your grandmother ever told you not to eat too many sweets? This warning not only applied to dental cavities but also to diabetes. Diabetes is a chronic health condition that affects how your body turns food into energy.

The vast majority of the food we consume is broken down into sugar. This sugar is released into our bloodstream when it is transported to cells and converted to energy. Your genetics, lifestyle, and diet dictate which type of diabetes you could potentially develop.

There are three types of diabetes. Type 1 diabetes develops when the body is unable to produce insulin. Insulin is the hormone that allows the breakdown of carbohydrates into sugar for energy. This form of diabetes occurs in younger people and the cause is not directly related to diet and exercise. It is considered to be autoimmune, which means the body is attacking itself.

The most common form of diabetes is Type 2. When the sugar content in the bloodstream is high for too long, the body is unable to meet the insulin demands to keep the blood sugar at normal levels which leads to the development of Type 2 diabetes.

The third type of diabetes is gestational diabetes. This form of diabetes develops during pregnancy. If this occurs, there is risk for developing diabetes following the pregnancy or later on in life.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 30.3 million U.S. adults have diabetes, and 1 in 4 don’t know they have it. The symptoms of diabetes include increased urination, thirst and hunger, feeling of tiredness or fatigue, unexpected weight loss, blurry vision, numbness or tingling in the hands or feet, dry skin, slow-to-heal cuts and wounds and increased infections.

Type 1 diabetes usually show signs of nausea, stomach pains or vomiting. Gestational diabetes does not typically have symptoms, therefore pregnant women should be tested for the disease between 24 and 28 weeks.

Long-term complications of this disease have serious implications. Diabetes is the number one cause of kidney failure, lower-limb amputations, and adult blindness. It can also cause fatal complications like coronary heart disease and stroke, vision loss, total kidney failure and the need for dialysis or kidney transplant and diabetic neuropathy which includes damage to the nerve fibers, affecting the legs and feet. Neuropathy, which is damage to peripheral nerves in the body, causes lack of sensation in limbs like the feet. Lack of sensation and decreased healing capability lead to foot ulcers, which are also a common complication.

Risk factors for prediabetes (a disease that precedes diabetes where blood sugar is higher than normal but does not meet the criteria for diabetes) and Type 2 diabetes are having a family history of the disease, history of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, gestational diabetes or giving birth to a baby greater than nine pounds, living a sedentary lifestyle, history of polycystic ovary syndrome, being greater than forty-five years old or being of African-American, Native American, Latin American, or Asian-Pacific Islander descent.

While there is currently no prevention for Type 1 there are ways to avoid Type 2 and gestational diabetes. Ensure that you commit to a healthier lifestyle by losing weight, get at least 8 hours of sleep per night, exercise for a least 30 minutes a day for five days a week, drink more than eight ounces of water per day, eat healthy foods, and get regular checkups and screenings with your primary care provider. While these are ways to prevent diabetes, these steps can also be taken to maintain diabetes in a healthy manner. If you find yourself experiencing any of the identified potential signs and symptoms, please see your primary health care provider. Early detection and starting healthy eating habits will assist you in being as healthy as you can be!