November 14th is World Diabetes Day. Began to hold it on the initiative of the International Diabetes Federation from one thousand nine hundred and ninety-one. On this day, it is customary to be examined and find out as much useful and interesting information about diabetes as possible.
Obesity is one of the common causes of diabetes.
Do not forget that one of the main reasons for the emergence of insulin-independent diabetes is obesity. Glucose formed in humans in two ways. On the one hand, a person gets it by splitting carbohydrates in food in the process of digestion. On the other hand, it can form in the liver during the breakdown of glycogen. In response to an increase in the glucose level, the pancreas begins to produce insulin, the main hormone that regulates glucose metabolism. The concentration of sugar in the blood of a healthy person is normalized.
Diabetes is associated with many myths. Let us examine some of them.
Myth number 1. Diabetes comes from sweet
It is widely believed that diabetes occurs when eating sugary foods. But it is not so. By itself, eating sweets does not cause diabetes, but to provoke excess weight and obesity – the main causes of diabetes, it can.
Myth number 2. Buckwheat does not increase sugar
Many believe that buckwheat with diabetes can eat almost unlimited quantities. However, this is another myth that originated in Soviet times.
It should be understood that the amount of carbohydrates – substances that contribute to an increase in blood sugar, in buckwheat is almost the same as in other cereals, including rice, barley. And even in potatoes and pasta the carbohydrate content is not so different.
Currently, there are no clear guidelines as to which products to prefer, and which ones to taboo. Most likely, the doctor will even allow you to consume carbohydrate-containing foods, but will prescribe the correct dosage.
Myth number 3. Honey is an excellent sugar substitute.
Some people stop using sugar and replace it with honey, considering that honey in diabetes can be consumed. In general, honey is attributed various healing properties, and some even consider it a panacea for various diseases.
However, the chemical composition of honey and ordinary food sugar is essentially the same – fifty percent glucose, fifty percent fructose. Moreover, in honey, glucose and fructose are not connected, therefore they are absorbed into blood, perhaps even faster than plain sugar.
At the same time, a spoon of honey weighs about twenty grams, and a teaspoon of sugar is only five. In view of the deceptive impression, even more carbohydrates can be obtained. The glycemic index of sugar and honey is almost the same: 68 and 56, respectively. As you can see, to use honey as a sweetener is impractical. By and large, honey is the same sugar.
Myth. №4. Diabetes can not eat carbohydrates
Carbohydrates the body is always needed. And you can use them with diabetes. The main thing to comply with the measure. Even if there is no disease. Otherwise, the likelihood of obesity, and as a consequence, diabetes.
It must be remembered that it is glucose that is necessary for the energy activity of the brain. Exclusion from the diet of carbohydrates causes starvation.
Myth number 5. With hereditary fullness can not lose weight
If you eat right and exercise physical activity, overweight problems will not be even among people with hereditary susceptibility to fullness. If a person consumes fewer calories than he spends during the day, then the missing body will be forced to take from its fat reserves. In diabetes schools, patients are helped to lose those extra pounds and give recommendations for keeping their desired weight.
Myth number 6. Insulin injections are addictive
Some patients with type 2 diabetes at a certain stage of development of the disease require the introduction of insulin, since the pancreas can no longer cope with its production. However, many people believe that the use of insulin is addictive, and it will be difficult to dismount from the insulin needle in the future. But it is not. In fact, insulin is not addictive and is a “native” substance for the body.
By the way, today, special insulin pens have replaced the insulin injections with medical syringes. The patient can give injections independently in house conditions.
Insulin – a sensational discovery of mankind
The discovery of insulin was a great achievement and made it possible to prolong the lives of many people with diabetes. Insulin was allocated in the twenty-first year of the last century by Canadian physicians Frederick Banting and Charles Best, who gave a patent for insulin to the University of Toronto for a purely symbolic price – one US dollar.
By the way, there are several examples in history of the great scientists, Nobel laureates who refused to pate their discoveries, namely: German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen – discovery of x-radiation, British bacteriologist Alexander Fleming – discovery of antibiotics and, as we said earlier, Canadian physiologist Frederick Grant Banting – the discovery of insulin.
Shortly after receiving insulin, diabetics began to make insulin injections. At the same time, the patients, who had just been in a state of coma, after the injection got up on their own from the bed while the doctor approached the next patient.
Joslyn’s Award
In 1948, at the initiative of the US diabetologist and endocrinologist Elliot Proctor Joslin, a medal was instituted, which was given to patients over twenty-five years of life with diabetes. Yes, in those years, living even two and a half decades with diabetes was a feat. In this case, we are talking about people with insulin-dependent diabetes of the first type, who have suffered from childhood illness.
In the seventieth year, they established another medal – for fifty years of life. On its obverse, a torchbearer is depicted and the inscription “The Triumph of Man and Medicine” is engraved. On the reverse – “For 50 courageous years with diabetes.”
Later, in the ninety-fifth year, a medal was issued for seventy-five years of life with diabetes on insulin. And in two thousand and thirteenth year – for eighty years.
Currently, diabetes mellitus is perfectly compensated by drugs. Now life expectancy for diabetics is almost the same as for people without diabetes. The main thing is to contact qualified doctors who are sure to help in solving the problem.