10 Myths and truths about diabetes misconceptions or facts

Are there ways to prevent it? Can it appear due to stress? These and other questions answered by Dr. María Alejandra Rodríguez Zía (MN 70,787), Clinical Physician and Endocrinologist. 

Diabetes is an ancient disease, it has a genetic component - so it can appear in members of the same family - and in recent years, an incidence is growing at an alarming speed, which is why it is called the silent pandemic.

Its symptoms appear when 50% of the beta cells of the pancreas, which produce insulin, are damaged, so it is much more convenient to prevent it than to treat it. However, the predominant diet in the Western world, with a high percentage of refined simple carbohydrates (sugars) and complexes (flours) and low in fiber, protein and Omega 3 fatty acids, is exactly the opposite that we need to do that so necessary prevention. 

One caveat: Type I diabetes, also called juvenile diabetes, is an autoimmune disease: immune cells attack the pancreas, which is the organ that produces insulin. In this case there is no possible prevention, if an early treatment that improves the prognosis. While type II, or adult diabetes, is the most common and in most cases appears as a complication of visceral obesity. Therefore, it is the one that doctors and patients can prevent.

Obesity and overeating are the most common causes of diabetes. After several years of food overruns, the disease is triggered by overstressing the pancreas.

Likewise, as the distance between excess weight and diabetes is usually narrow, a new term was created that unifies the two pathologies: diabesity, which is the union of type II diabetes, or non-insulin dependent, and obesity. It occurs in 80% of people and this is due to the obesity pandemic that the world is suffering, especially in the West, and strongly from the United States to South America.

 

These are some of the myths that circulate around this disease. 

 

1. Eating too much sugar causes diabetes

V. Because it forces the pancreas to produce more insulin and, over the years, it reaches exhaustion.

 

2. Diabetes is not a serious disease

F. Yes, it is a serious disease, because it leads to failure of vital organs.

 

3. Diabetes is a disease of obese people

F. Because it may have a genetic, autoimmune origin that is not directly related to obesity.

 

4. Diabetes is not a fatal disease

F. Diabetes is a deadly disease if it is not treated and it is a totally bearable disease if it is treated.

 

5. Diabetes only affects the elderly

F. Diabetes affects children, youth, adults, and the elderly.

 

6. Diabetes predominantly affects women

F. It affects women and men equally.

 

7. Diabetes can be prevented

V. Type II diabetes, now known as diabesity, can be prevented by treating and preventing obesity. Type I diabetes still does not achieve preventive treatments since it is an autoimmune disease.

 

8. Diabetes has a cure

F. Once diabetes is triggered, we can treat it, but it has not yet been reversed.

 

9. Stress produces diabetes

V. Cortisol, the stress hormone, increases blood sugar and also increases appetite so the patient will alter their eating habits. This requires increased secretion of insulin into the pancreas, which can trigger type II diabetes.

 

10. Chia may lower blood sugar

V. Chia is a seed that contains Omega 3 fatty acids. Omega 3 is a very healthy substance to improve the function of the insulin receptor and therefore could decrease the necessary insulin levels, which would put the pancreas at rest.