DIABETES is a chronic condition caused by the body’s inability to turn glucose (the sugar your body produces as energy from all food you eat) into energy,that your body requires.
When you have diabetes your body produces too little or no insulin, or cannot use the insulin properly.
Diabetes causes the glucose that your body does not turn into energy to remain in your blood stream and causes your kidneys, which filter the blood, to work harder than is necessary.
This also leads, over time, to serious damage to the heart, blood vessels, eyes, kidneys and nerves. Your blood glucose levels will be high and you will need medical treatment.
Diabetes can be managed with medication, a healthy diet and exercise.
What is insulin?
A hormone produced by the pancreas, and insulin helps the body cells absorb the glucose from the blood to provide energy for living and growing.
Insulin works like a key to open the cells to receive and use the glucose.
The food you eat is changed into glucose so that your body can absorb it.
If there is no insulin, the body cannot use the glucose; the glucose levels in the blood will rise and you will starve.
What is a pancreas?
It is a small organ, about 15cm long, which is located on the left-hand side, partly behind the lower part of the stomach, and contains the Islets of Langerhans.
The Islet cells are very small, about the thickness of one strand of human hair.
These tiny cells produce the insulin.
Diabetes is known as a silent killer, as the symptoms are not visible.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), about 422 million people worldwide have diabetes, the majority living in low-and middle-income countries, and 1.5 million deaths are directly attributed to diabetes each year.
Both the number of cases and the prevalence of diabetes have been steadily increasing over the past few decades.
The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) reported in 2021 that 10.5 percent of the adult population (20-79 years) has diabetes, with almost half unaware that they are living with the condition.
By 2045, IDF projections show that one in eight adults, approximately 783 million, will be living with diabetes, an increase of 46 percent.
Know your number!
This is why it is of utmost importance that all adults should have their blood glucose levels checked every year.
Many pharmacies have a nursing sister who can do this simple test and then, depending on the results, recommend that you go to a medical practitioner for further tests if your blood glucose reading was too high.
– Issued by Martin
Prinsloo, National
Chairman, Diabetes SA
