Sweet like poison?

Couch potatoes with beer bellies are at a high risk of developing type two diabetes and being killed by a heart attack or stroke.

Dr Neil Isaacs and sister Lindy Brown from the Ballito Medical Centre’s Centre for Diabetes explains the relationship between sugar and diabetes.

Isaacs said excess abdominal fat prevents insulin from unlocking cell doors to let sugar from the bloodstream into the body’s cells, making a person insulin resistant and on course for developing type two diabetes. Women with a waistline of more than 80 centimetres and men with a waistline exceeding 94 centimetres were at risk of becoming insulin resistant and eventually develop type two diabetes.

He said sugar on it’s own was not the only villain that caused diabetes but weight gain around the belly (possibly from eating too much sugar) and inactivity had a substantial hand in it.

“Low fitness kills more people in America than smoking, diabetes and obesity combined and thirty minutes of mild exercise per day is eight times more powerful in treating diabetes than losing weight.”

Children who spend too much time indoors watching television or playing computer games have an increased risk of developing type two diabetes.

He said 48 percent of diabetes treatment was a lifestyle change consisting of exercise and a balanced diet. Children with diabetes had to engage in a minimum of one hour of mild exercise per day and two to three hours of vigorous exercise per week, while adults were required to do at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise in addition to two to three hours of vigorous exercise per week.

“Most of our patients are people who had a habit of skipping breakfast and drinking lots of coke and fruit juices,” said Brown.

She said she found when testing the diabetes equipment on herself, that Grapetiser had more sugar than coke.

Symptoms of diabetes include weight loss, dizziness, frequent urination, excessive thirst, tiredness and blurred vision. People experiencing these symptoms should have themselves tested as quickly as possible.

The complications caused by type two diabetes are far more serious than the symptoms.

Sixty percent of people with diabetes develop cardiovascular disease like narrowed or blocked blood vessels that can lead to a heart attack, chest pain or stroke.

Type two patients are commonly treated on an ongoing basis for bleeding and scarring in the back of the eyeball, kidney disease and trauma to the feet.

The patient may lose sensation to the feet or experience a burning or numbing sensation.

Such patients have to check their own feet daily for sores and other injuries that they may not be able to feel due to a loss of sensation.

Such wounds in diabetes patients typically do not heal well and can lead to the formation of large ulcers that are very difficult to treat.

Isaacs and Brown believe in an individualised team approach when caring for a diabetic patient and applying interventions that show benefit to the feet, kidneys, eyes, heart, blood pressure and cholesterol. Treatment typically includes the services of a general practitioner, podiatrist, dietitian, diabetes nurse, ophthalmologist and a biokineticist to help the patient with an exercise programme.