Category: Diabetes Tips

For a diabetic, healthy food and nutritious diet is very important. The American Diabetes Association Diet has been recommended for all the diabetic patients all over the country by the ADA. These diet guidelines are very helpful to the patients as they ensure that they are eating healthy foods. The detailed information of the required vitamins and minerals are also provided by the ADA diet.

The American Diabetes Association has noticed that the food taken by the diabetic patients in their routine diet consists from the 4 groups of food items. One of the groups is proteins containing food such as eggs, fish, meat, nuts, poultry, dried beans and peanut butter. The other group is of the dairy products like skim milk, low fat milk, yogurt and cottage cheese. There is another group of breads, whole grains and cereals. The last group contains fruits and vegetables.
If all the diabetic patients follow their daily diet according to the American Diabetes Association Diet as mentioned above, then they can receive maximum nutrients which help to maintain good health. Most of the food items contain important nutrients such as proteins, vitamins, carbohydrates, fats and minerals.

As suggested by the American Diabetes Association Diet, the carbohydrates are the best sources that provide good amount of energy to the body. There have been two types of carbohydrates – good and bad. The items like lentils, beans, cereals and whole grains are included in the good carbohydrates.

The intake of proteins is also very essential for proper and healthy growth of the body. They help in maintaining the blood glucose level. If a person is having low level of blood glucose, then intake of proteins as well as carbohydrates is advisable. The carbohydrates help to increase the level of blood glucose whereas the proteins maintain the level of glucose in the blood and do not allow falling down.
As per the American Diabetes Association Diet, the fibrous food products as well as the food containing low index of glycemic are considered to be healthy for the diabetic patients. Peas, beans, whole grains and many such are included in the fibrous foods which help to reduce the levels of blood glucose and blood fats. The diet recommended by ADA also contains fats but in appropriate quantities.
There are certain things to be avoided which have been listed in the ADA diet. The food products containing high amount of fats should be avoided. Try to choose the meat that has low level of fat content. Olive oil and flax oil are advisable to be used for cooking. The diabetic patients should drink milk having low fats rather than drinking the whole milk. Make sure to remove the chicken skin before eating.
Try to avoid the diet that contains high amount of salt. The considerable amount of sodium in the diet is useful. While using the canned soups, ensure the ingredients of salt. The intake of sugar is totally eliminated from the ADA diet. The diabetic patients should not consume sugar coated cereals, syrup, table sugar, soda packed in cans etc.

Diabetes is one of the most common problems all over the world and it is inevitable when people reach certain age. Knowing the beginning signs of diabetes is very much helpful in preventing diabetes. Obese and overweight are some of the major causes of this massive disease.

There are two types of diabetes and they are type I and type II. Children are the main victims of type I diabetes and adults are the main victims for type two diabetes. The signs are more or less same in both the types. The major cause of the diabetes is insufficient insulin from pancreas that increases the blood sugar level.

Losing weight is one of the major beginning signs of diabetes. Without undergoing the exercise or diet plans if weight loss happens then it should consider closely because it may bring potential major risks of diabetes.

Remember healthy weight loss prevent diabetes but at the same time losing weight by diabetes leads to great risks. Since weight loss is a common problem and less serious condition most of the people are not aware that it indicates diabetic risks and so they fail to take proper attention. With the result they need to face risky consequences later.

Becoming thirsty and feeling thirsty all the times is also the major beginning signs of diabetes. If a person faces this situation constantly then it is advisable to consider this problem very seriously to avoid high-factor risks. This particular sign comes under type II diabetes.

Frequent urination is another major sign of diabetes in the beginning stage, especially urinating very often in night-time. At the same time, sometimes people urinate very often without drinking water.

When people feel thirsty it is obvious that they drink plenty of water. When they drink plenty of water again it is very much obvious that they urinate very often. Thus, these two major signs have the bond between them.

Apart from these symptoms, sudden feelings of dry mouth gum, constant bad breath and gum disease and other mouth related problems are also the beginning signs of diabetes. When people experience such type of problems it is advisable to visit doctor and take initial screening tests as soon as possible.

Having sudden problems with the vision like blurred vision is also another major beginning signs of diabetes. This problem comes under type I diabetes and it requires medications.

Some more signs of diabetes in the beginning stage are – heredity problems, which can spotted in many family histories, sudden dryness of the skin or feeling the itchiness constantly is also the beginning signs. Apart from that being fatigue is also the major sign. If a sore take long time to heal process then it is also consider being the major symptom or sign of diabetes in the early stage.

To prevent the risks of diabetic, people should aware of these beginning signs of diabetes. Remember detecting the problems in the early stage always has the potential not only to prevent the side effects of diabetes but it also helps to treat the disease with ease.

The American Diabetes Association has been working hard to try to find a way to help cure the people who suffer from diabetes. Diabetes, or diabetes mellitus to be exact, is known and believed to be a deathly disease that is triggered or caused by excessive sugar in the human body. People who suffer from diabetes possess a large quantity of blood sugar which the cells of the blood are not capable of taking in. And when these people get wounded, it is hard for them to stop bleeding and so it is hard for the wound to recover.

Concerning the horrible effect that can be brought by the diabetes mellitus disease, there are a number of institutions out there that are trying to find out more facts on this diabetes disease by carrying out attempts on diabetes research. One of them is the American Diabetes Association (ADA) which concentrates on the diabetes mellitus diseases. A diabetes research is considered necessary since the disease is spreading all around the globe and the sufferers seldom make it through to survive.

The researchers at the ADA have been conducting researches for the time being. One research has recently been carried out by its researcher Hanna E. Abboud, MD. The researcher is a graduate of the science center for health in a university in Texas.

His research concentrated on the oxidant stress that is possessed by the diabetic nephropathy. The research was started on January 1st, 2007 and is targeted to be accomplished in the end of this year of 2009.

The diabetes research mentioned above concentrated on the diabetic nephropathy since the diabetic nephropathy is considered as one very serious complication that is caused by the type 1 as well as type 2 diabetes and it often threatens someone’s chance of surviving.

Yet, the knowledge that mankind possesses is not yet adequate to tell how the diabetic nephropathy initiates and progresses in the human body. If only the researchers know how the system works for the diabetic nephropathy, there is a good chance that the kidney damage caused by the disease can be prevented, or at least be reversed.

This diabetes research is expected to figure out more facts on what the oxidant stress actually has to do with the diabetes as a medium for the kidney damage. It is said as kidney damage because this diabetic nephropathy is actually a kidney complication as well.

The research aims to find out about the cells that the uncontrolled diabetes targets the most, the kidney mesangial cells. The precise oxygen radicals enzymatic source is what the research aims to identify.

There are a lot of diabetes sufferers who experienced kidney complications. But there is actually something that can be done to help prevent this complication as well the other types of complications. Controlling the blood sugar by making use of the insulin as well the oral agents may help do this. But it is not easy to control the flow of the blood sugar and there are some of the patients who still experience kidney complications despite having their blood sugar controlled.

Because of the lacking of knowledge about this disease and how the disease works, ongoing researches on diabetes will still be needed to be carried out by the corresponding institutions.

Diabetes mellitus is not what someone will be willing for. Nevertheless, it does happen to some of us or even many of us.
In fact, someone who suffers from this kind of disease is not alone. He or she has got company and according to the fact that is revealed in the United States, the United States itself possesses not less than 24 million people who suffer from this disease of diabetes mellitus. A lot of them are not even aware that they as well suffer from this kind of disease.

The American Diabetes Association had managed to gather the statistical data of the total amount of people who suffer from this diabetes mellitus in the United States alone in the year 2007.
The association was able to figure out that there were as many 17.9 million people who were diagnosed with the diabetes mellitus diseases. It also figured out that there were as many 5.7 million people who weren’t diagnosed with the disease but they, too, positively suffered from the disease.
Fifty seven million people were considered to possess pre-diabetes whereas as many one hundred eighty six thousand and three hundred people, or around 0.22% of the population, that aged below 20 positively suffered from diabetes. The American Diabetes Association was also able to discover that one in four to six hundred people under the age of 20 possessed diabetes type 1.

Around 2 million adolescents were found positively possessed pre-diabetes. There were as many 10.7% of the population or around twenty three and a half million people with the age above 20 possessed diabetes. It was figured out that there were not less than 12.2 million people that aged above 60 years old positively possessed diabetes mellitus whereas there were around 12 million men, or 11.2% of the population, possessed this disease and eleven and a half million women, or as many 10.2% of the population, turned out to possess this disease of diabetes mellitus.

For those people who are suffering from this diabetes mellitus, they are considered as recipients who are eligible for medical care and they deserve free test on the sugar level that flows in their blood. They are eligible to take the test from their doctor for a maximum of twice a year.
People who are considered at the risk of suffering from diabetes mellitus and deserve the free sugar test as mentioned above must meet some of the following criteria. The history in their family needs to have the diabetes history. It can either be their parents, their brothers, sisters, anyone as long as there is a family relationship among them.
Another factor that needs to be taken into consideration is that whether the person suspected to have diabetes possesses high pressure in his or her blood, which we usually call hypertension. People with high cholesterol level inside their body may as well be considered at risk of possessing diabetes mellitus as well as people who have overweight or obesity. Pregnant women are as well considered risky of diabetes.

Furthermore, people with medical care who are already positively diagnosed with diabetes are eligible for receiving self-management training on diabetes and they can ask for the help of their doctors for this purpose.
Although diabetes is not something anyone would want to live with, a person who has diabetes can still live his or her life fully and actively. It is, however, suggested that they plan their meals as well as try to be active and take medicine or treatment. They may also obtain some useful information from insulin making companies as well as other diabetes related product making companies that usually provides informational websites that contain diabetes tools along with the resources.

During the pregnancy stage sometimes people affected by high blood sugar (glucose) levels and this condition characterized as gestational diabetes. In most cases this blood sugar or glucose level back to normal after delivery. In United States there are 3 percent to five percent pregnant people diagnosed by diabetes.

Causes

Some hormonal changes take place during pregnancy and that is the he major cause of the gestational diabetes. Certain hormones made in placenta (an organ that connects umbilical cord to uterus that helps to transfer nutrients to baby from mother) that involve with the insulin to manage blood sugar and this process is known as “insulin resistance”. During pregnancy placenta grows large and produce more hormones that increase the insulin resistance.

Generally, mothers’ pancreases are capable to produce more insulin say about three times than the normal amount to overcome the insulin resistance. In case, during pregnancy if the pancreas are not able to create enough insulin to conquer against the effects of increased pancreas then that leads to high sugar level. This whole process is the major cause of gestational diabetes.

Risk Factors

Some of the major factors that increase and develop the risks of gestational diabetes are – a woman being overweight by 20 percent or more than their real body weight is one of the major risk factors. Secondly, family history is other major risk. For instance, if a sibling or parent has diabetes then the woman has lot of risk to get diabetes in pregnancy. Pre-mature baby birth is another major risk factor for diabetes.

Apart from that if a woman has gestational diabetes in her previous birth also one of the causes for risk factors. Furthermore, having excess amniotic also one of the risks and this condition called as polyhydramnios.

However, development of gestational diabetes has no known risk factors in half of the women.

When and How to diagnose?

A woman needs to diagnose gestational diabetes between the weeks 24 and 28 of pregnancy because the insulin resistance occurs only during this stage. In case if a woman already had gestational diabetes or if a doctor feels there are chances for this diabetes than it is advisable to take the tests prior to 13th week of pregnancy.

The oral glucose tolerance test is ideal the screen test for gestational diabetes. This is a very simple test, just a woman needs to swallow sweetened liquid (which has 50g of glucose) as quickly as possible. This glucose can absorb by the body rapidly that in turn increase the blood sugar level in just 30 to 60 minutes. After 30 minutes from drinking the solution a laboratory person take the sample from the arm vain and diagnose whether she has diabetes or not.

Treatments

A woman needs to check blood sugar levels regularly during pregnancy and she also need to follow certain guidelines instructed by her doctor. Regular exercising and taking insulin also help to decrease blood sugar. These are some of the major things about gestational diabetes and pregnancy.

Diabetes is a very ancient disease found in the human race — it was known in the year of 1552 B.C. Many people suffered from the condition of frequent urination and some others observed that the ants grouped around near the place where such people urinated. However, the physicians had no clues for this condition. After a few years, Greek as well as French physicians made us aware about the history of diabetes and the organs that are responsible for this disease. This disease was named as diabetes mellitus because of the sweet property of the urine. Some doctors used assistants for tasting the urine samples in order to identify its sweetness and diagnosed accordingly.

The diabetes was recognized as a disease but there was no progress in its causes. More than 200 years passed in the history of diabetes without any inventions regarding it. This disease was not even known to be a life-threatening disorder.

During the 1800s, a medical test was discovered which determined the sugar level in the urine of the diabetic patients. There was a progress in the treatments for diabetes regarding the doses to control the sugar level along with the diagnosis process. The physicians also prescribed a planned diet for the diabetic patients. In 1870, one of the French physician found that diabetes is dependent on the type of the food taken. He also prepared the diabetic food plan which included milk, fibrous food items and oats. Some of the patients were also advised for starving. But all these precautions did not completely relieve the patients from diabetes.

Then after, in the year 1921, there was a discovery of insulin which created the history of diabetes. There were no significant treatments of diabetes before the discovery of insulin. Dr. Banting, Dr. Collip and Professor Macleod made it possible to discover the nature as well as functions of insulin. First the experiments with insulin were made on the animals and then after, a young man was treated with insulin. The experiment was a great success which helped in identifying as well as treating the diabetes in a right way. Many researches were going on further on this diabetes and in 1940s; it was found that there is a link between the diabetes and other parts of the body like kidneys and eyes. The research studies proved that various parts of the body like kidney, eyes and skin can be affected if you are contracted with diabetes for long duration.

In 1959, two types of diabetes — namely Type 1 which is insulin dependent and Type 2 which is non insulin dependent was determined. The progress was going on and finally, many devices were developed which could precisely measure the sugar levels of the blood of the diabetic patients sitting at their homes.

Thus, the history of diabetes has taken a long way about 3500 years to get completely identified. There had been a ray of hope to get successful in curing the diabetes completely with the help of modern treatments and medicines.

Diabetes is the disorder of the endocrine gland or to be more correct, of the entire endocrine system, during which the level of blood sugar inside the body increases disrupting other bodily actions going on inside. Basically, the pancreas that is an essential gland is unable to produce required amount of insulin and sometimes this level is even lower or negligible that the functioning of the body gets affected. It’s a truth that this disease is still listed among the incurable diseases, in spite of various medicines and treatments being available though the patient has to continue taking pills for lifetime.

Saying yes to “is diabetes contagious” is a very wrong belief spread all around in the society. It’s something very obvious that the problem would arise for the diseased patient to manage his daily chores and activities still the situations are very much under strong control and doctors have comfortable treatments.
Is diabetes contagious, is surrounded almost like a myth. It is a genetic disorder, being inherited by the way of blood lines. Something which is growing up on its own can be less disastrous than being attacked from outside. And surely a thing that affects from outside can be contagious but not diabetes. It doesn’t passes from one person to another. Any touch or smell or anything cannot result in causing diabetes to a person from another.

Is diabetes contagious? Yes it can be if you are still in the habit of eating more and more sweets without any precautions. People with low level of sugar are not restricted from eating sweets but they need to be careful over this. Eating can be really very harmful if you are not at all maintaining a regular exercise plan or are not so continuous over taking your medicines. Best way to be one the safe side even while you eat sweets can be to use artificial sugar solutions which can reduce the level of blood sugar alongside save you from variety of other diseases.

Is diabetes contagious with cold and flu? This is an age old belief about the disease. Many people believe that diabetic patients get cold and flu very quickly and their situation is chronic during that period. This is certainly untrue because the fact is diabetic patients are in normal condition just like any other person might be while getting affected by cold. Neither the condition worsens, not it is any how contagious. Diabetic patient is equally in the condition like anyone else might be especially in the current situation.
Lack of information and education about the various treatments and medication is leading to all that myths in the society. Diabetes is like any other disease with all pros and cons. Though being severe, it can be cured with adequate amount of exercises and medicines along with general and strict precautions. One can save himself/herself with proper control over eating habits and required measures very easily. Keep all myths aside and straight away move towards the solutions, you’ll get continue to live for long.

Pathophysiology is a branch of science which deals with the physical, mechanical and biochemical changes occurring in the body due to a disease. Diabetes has been one of those diseases that brings a lot of pathophysiological changes in the body.

The pathophysiology of diabetes varies according to the symptoms as well as complexities involved in the types of diabetes. There are three types of diabetes so its pathophysiology differs accordingly.
Let’s have a look on the recent studies regarding the diabetes pathophysiology amongst the American people. It has been noticed that approximately 65% of the American population is suffering from overweight and about 1/4th of its population has been the victim of diabetes. Amongst several countries of the world, India ranks first, China at the second position and America ranks third with the maximum number of diabetic patients. From the research work, it has been found that the root cause of diabetes is obesity which is related to epidemic.

People who are born after 2000 are noticed to be having the risk of diabetes which contains 39% of the female population, 33% of male population out of which about 50% may be Hispanic women. As per the medical check up and scientific facts, the cardiovascular diseases are happened to be due to the cause of fatalities.
The pathophysiology of diabetes of the Type 1 is due to the various types of virus present in the environment, stressful life, disposition in the genes and the way the beta cells of the pancreas get affected which in turn affects the production of insulin. The current generation gets the deficiency of insulin from their parents who are already diabetic.

Due to various pathophysiological factors, the diabetes is commonly found even at the age of 10 to 14 years in the recent times. Moreover, the people suffering from diabetes Type 1 at young age are intended to get completely diabetic at the age of 30.
The diabetic patient suffering from Type 2 is resistant to insulin. So, for such patients, the pathophysiology of diabetes is due to the environmental changes. Due to this, the body weight of the person is increased and there is great deposition of fats in the body. The belly fat is considered to be one of the most harmful fats.
The diabetes occurring amongst the children is not due to the genes but, by the habits that they develop as they grow older as well as certain environmental changes. When obesity is found in the children at very young age, then several substances are produced in the body which resists the insulin. Due to this, there is constant deposition of fat bodies in the body at wrong places. Such statistics in today’s times is found in the age group of 10 to 20.

Thus, the parents who are much knowledgeable about such situations should take proper care of their children and do not pamper them with chocolates or sweets as they contain high amount of sugar level. Also, do not allow your children to spend most of their leisure time in playing video consoles as they will not provide physical exercises to the children.

Diabetes mellitus did not come all of a sudden without any cause. Instead, it has come from Greek with the Greek word meaning of a siphon. A physician who originated from Greek and was well known with the name of Aretus the Cappadocian made up his mind to mention the condition with the name diabainein. It happened during the 2nd century A.D.

Aretus the Cappadocian attempted to make a description of the patients who were passing water in an excessive amount, or polyuria, like a siphon. How the Greek word came to diabetes was because the English speaking people adopted the word from the Medieval Latin which then turned out to be “diabetes”.
The term “mellitus” was given by the well known Thomas Willis not later by the year 1675. Yet, we commonly refer to the “diabetes mellitus” simply with “diabetes”, without mentioning the following “mellitus”.

Thomas Willis did not add the term “mellitus” for nothing. The reason that the Thomas Willis added the term “mellitus” is because the urine of the people who suffer from this diabetes mellitus does taste sweet. This is possible since they possess too much glucose in their blood which is not absorbable by the cells in their blood, resulting in excessive glucose which comes out along with the urine making it taste sweet.
The word mellitus itself derives from the Latin word “Mel”. Honey is what is the word attempts to represent. The people who suffer from this disease of diabetes mellitus possess excessive amount of glucose in their blood that makes their urine feel sweet. There might be a probability that the people at the old times did test the urine of the people who suffered from diabetes mellitus diseases so that they were able to say that the urine of the people was sweet. Then, the word diabetes mellitus itself could possibly mean that the people who suffer from diabetes mellitus siphon off sweet water.

In the old times China, people had been able to manage to observe that ants were somehow attracted to the urine of the people who suffered from the diabetes mellitus. It was very possible that it was due to the fact that the urine was sweet. They then started mentioning the disease with the name “Sweet Urine Disease”.
In the year 1776 in England, there was a man who was known as Dr. Matthew Dobson wrote that the sweetness was caused by sugar. Then, in the year 1889, Oskar Minkowski along with Drs. J.V. Mering proved that they were able to give diabetes to animals by removing the pancreas of the animals.

Meanwhile, in the year 1900, Dr. Eugene Opie showed that this diabetes mellitus had an association with a group of cells in the pancreas that degenerated and decided to call it islets of Langerhans. Banting, along with Best, showed in the year 1992, that some kind of proteins that they had been able to extract from the pancreas which they call insulin could help in controlling diabetes.

Most of the dog lovers are very much worried about diabetes in dogs. It is a devastating experience when they diagnose diabetes in their beloved family dog. Once they diagnosed the diabetes in their dogs they have too many doubts like whether their dog can live happily, is that possible for their dog to lead a normal life again and so on. Here, in this article let’s analyze all the possible questions and answers of diabetes in dogs.

Causes

Immune deviation of the beta cells in the pancreas is the most common reason for the diabetes in dogs. These beta cells play the responsible role in producing insulin. Immune deviation stops insulin from producing. Insulin resistance leads to diabetes, which is similar to type I diabetes in humans.
Apart from that other mild common causes are – drug-induced diabetes, genetic predisposition and diabetes secondary to pancreatitis.
People often misunderstand that obesity is one of the cause of diabetes in dogs. In fact it causes diabetes in cat and human related to type II diabetes not in dog exactly. However, dogs also need to manage weight to manage diabetes.

Symptoms

Typically, an increase in water consumption is one of the major symptoms of diabetes in dogs. Frequent urination and the increased volume of urination are also the major symptoms. Apart from that, a weight loss with the good appetite is the other symptom. Ironically, some dogs show the symptoms like decrease or lack of appetite, diarrhea, vomiting, and lethargy are some of the other possible signs of diabetes in dogs.

Treatments

Diagnose process of diabetes in dogs can done by checking the glucose (sugar) in urine and blood. Once the diabetes determined, injecting insulin is the best treatment for dogs. Consuming high fiber foods and complex carbohydrate foods also play great role in gaining insulin because it helps to support the glucose levels that had fluctuated throughout the day. At the same time simple sugars like semi-moist foods are not recommended.
Treatment needs special skills because the diabetic dog requires injection with the small needle regularly till it recovers from disease. So the owners must make themselves skillful to carry out this job. However, it is not the difficult task. Most of the owners can easily learn this art of skill during short training session with the technicians or with their pet doctors.
It is advisable to go for re-check up once in every four to six months after recovery. However, vet visits depend on the nature of the disease.

In case, if the diabetes dog is not well-treated the dog undergoes the state of starvation that leads to breakage of proteins, fats and carbohydrates. With the result the break down of fats produce ketones. Remember, formations of the ketones make the dogs very much sick.
Well-controlled diabetes dogs are capable of healthy happy life but still there are chances for infections and other problems. In short, an owner should take proper care after the recovery of diabetes in dogs in order to prevent other major problems or side effects.