Diabetes and Nutrition

What?

Diabetes is a chronic disease that affects the way your body digests food. A healthy body will digest food and convert it into glucose, a chemical that fuels the cells of the body. A hormone called insulin is essential to this process. Insulin is needed in order for the body to have the energy it needs to grow and stay healthy. People with diabetes are unable to produce, or efficiently use, insulin. It is a very serious condition and is life-threatening. However, with early diagnosis and good management, people can live for a long time with diabetes.

What are the causes?

Diabetes can come in two forms: type I diabetes (which is usually diagnosed in children and teenagers like you), and type II diabetes (which is usually diagnosed in adults). The causes of both types of diabetes are still unknown, however, type I is though to have genetic causes while type II is more strongly linked to lifestyle factors such as obesity, lack of exercise and poor diet. Being of African American, Hispanic American, American Indian, Native Hawaiian or some Pacific Island descent also increases the risk for type II diabetes.

Is it contagious?

Neither form of diabetes is contagious: you cannot catch diabetes from another person.

How common is this condition?

In 2000, 171 MILLION people worldwide suffered from diabetes. This is expected to be 366 MILLION by 2030 - mainly due to a huge rise in the numbers in African and Asian countries.

What are the symptoms?

• Frequent urination
• Excessive thirst/hunger
• Tiredness
• Blurry vision

What can I do?

If you suffer from those symptoms, you should go to the doctor to get tested for diabetes. Then the doctor and other health care providers can help you manage the disease to prevent complications. Also, you should maintain a healthy diet and lifestyle by eating foods that have complex carbohydrates instead of fats and sugars. Fruits and vegetables are important to prevent diabetes. Also, do regular physical exercise to help your body break down sugars. Be sure to receive regular eye examinations to catch any eye condition early.

Complications?

Since diabetes affects blood vessels and nerves, it may result in:

• Heart attack and stroke
• Kidney disease
• Lower limb removal
• Eye diseases and blindness

A good diet was mentioned in preventive methods. Why?

Your body breaks down most of the food you eat and uses it to gain energy and nutrients; thus, the food that you eat will eventually be carried to many parts of your body. If you lack certain nutrients in your diet, your body processes will not be able to function properly. Likewise, if you exceed the appropriate sugar levels in your body, the chemical processes will also be altered. An example of a very important nutrient that your body needs is Vitamin A.

Our body gets Vitamin A when we eat foods containing this vitamin. Lack of vitamin A causes eye diseases. It was found that vitamin A deficiency is the single greatest preventable cause of childhood blindness. People most at risk are children between six months to six years, pregnant women, and lactating women.

Why is Vitamin A important?

Vitamin A maintains healthy cells in various structures of the eye and is required for converting light into nerve signals in the part of the eye called the retina. When vitamin A is not available to the body, gradual changes begin to affect the eye. The first sign of a problem is when a child or a pregnant or lactating woman finds it difficult to adjust to seeing in the dark. This condition is called night blindness.

What are the symptoms of lack of Vitamin A?

Vitamin A deficiency progresses slowly, causing more and more damage to the eye as the days go by. This condition is called Xerophthalmia, which is a range of disorders that may affect your eyes.

The symptoms are as follows:

Night blindness:

The child cannot see in the dim light or twilight. Nightblindness is also found in pregnant women in some instances, especially during the last trimester of pregnancy when the vitamin A needs are increased.

Bitot Spots:

These are foamy and whitish cheese-like tissue spots that develop around the eye ball, causing severe dryness in the eyes. These spots do not affect eye sight in the day light.

Blindness:

Once the dry eyes set in, the eye becomes very sensitive and begins to scratch and scar. The eyelids become swollen and sticky. This eventually leads to blindness. Once blindness occurs, it cannot be reversed.

Other symptoms of deficiency:

When the body lacks vitamin A, the systems that resist infection and disease do not work very well. That is why children with Vitamin A deficiency fall sick more often, take much longer to recover and are more likely to die. Problems with bones and teeth can also occur frequently.

How common is Vitamin A deficiency?

Vitamin A deficiency causes 350,000 children to go blind each year. About 140 million children in 118 countries are Vitamin A deficient. 1 in 4 child deaths are caused by Vitamin A deficiency. 30% of the world's blindness is due to vitamin A deficiency. 600,000 women die during child birth due to complications from vitamin A deficiency.

Okay, so Vitamin A is very important. What are Vitamin A-rich foods?

Sources of vitamin A can be divided into two groups: one is animal source, and the other is vegetable source. Vitamin A is better absorbed from an animal source, but when it is not always possible to afford animal foods, vitamin A derived from vegetable sources are also important.

Examples of animal food sources are as follows:

• Liver
• Fish liver oil
• Egg yolk
• Milk and milk products
• Breast milk
• Butter
• Small fish

Examples for vegetable sources are as follows:

• Dark green leaves
• Yellow and orange vegetables (like carrot, sweet potatoes, yellow yam)
• Yellow and orange fruits (like papaya, mangoes)
• Red palm oil

How much Vitamin A do I need?

The human body needs 500-600 milligrams of vitamin A per day.