Health officials raise diabetes awareness in November
WASHINGTON. November 14. KAZINFORM November 14 is a day to give some thought to whether your lifestyle might lead to a disease that is disabling, deadly and on the rise.
On World Diabetes Day, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Diabetes Federation are urging us to learn the risks of diabetes and adapt a lifestyle that will help us dodge the disease, the US Diplomatic Mission to Kazakhstan said.
Diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin - Type 1 diabetes - or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces, known as Type 2. Insulin's job is to help the body manage blood sugar by transporting the sugar in your bloodstream to your cells to be used as fuel.
But when Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes interferes with insulin's function, an increased concentration of glucose develops in the blood. This condition is called hyperglycemia, and it can be fatal. WHO reports that close to 350 million people worldwide have diabetes and almost 3.5 million die of the consequences of high blood sugar per year.
Without treatment, diabetes can lead to an array of miserable complications, such as heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, blindness and amputation. Because of poor circulation and diminished feeling in the feet, diabetes patients have a much higher rate of foot amputation than normal.
WHO projects that diabetes deaths will increase by two-thirds by 2030 as more and more people move away from traditional diets and eat more processed foods high in salt, sugar and fats. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also sees increasing rates of the disease, especially among youngsters.
"The increase in Type 2 diabetes among our nation's children is linked to the rise of childhood obesity," according to a presidential proclamation designating November as National Diabetes Month in 2011. "To end the epidemic of childhood obesity within a generation, first lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! initiative is inspiring children to be physically active and empowering parents and caregivers to make healthy choices for their families."
Michelle Obama has made countless appearances around the country in the last several years in schools and before youth groups, promoting healthy habits and exercise.
Taking a short quiz to check your risk of developing Type 2 diabetes is one way you can take the first step to prevent diabetes. CDC offers an online quiz that can help anyone determine whether they are at risk for diabetes. The quiz checks your vulnerability to develop prediabetes, which often leads to Type 2 diabetes within a few years.
The National Diabetes Education Program is a joint project of CDC and the National Institutes of Health. It offers a long list of lifestyle changes that can help you avoid diabetes. NIH is promoting diabetes prevention all through the month of November, urging people to set goals and make plans to prevent diabetes and diabetes-related complications.
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