November is Diabetes Awareness Month and November 14 is World Diabetes Day.
With three and a half million South Africans being diagnosed and an estimated five million being pre-diabetic, it is clear that South Africa is being hit hard by diabetes.
The majority of people in South Africa have type 2 diabetes. However, many of these cases go undiagnosed, as there are very few symptoms initially.
There isn’t a cure yet for diabetes, but a healthy lifestyle can really reduce its impact on your life.
The three main types of diabetes are: type 1, type 2 and gestational diabetes (diabetes while pregnant, which can put the pregnancy and baby at risk and lead to type 2 diabetes later).
With type 1 diabetes, your body can’t make insulin (a hormone that acts like a key to let blood sugar into cells for use as energy), so you need to take it every day.
Type 1 diabetes is less common than type 2 diabetes; about 5% of the people who have diabetes have type 1.
Currently, no one knows how to prevent type 1 diabetes.
Most people with diabetes (nine out of 10) have type 2 diabetes.
With type 2 diabetes, your body doesn’t use insulin well and is unable to keep blood sugar at normal levels.
If you have any of the risk factors below, ask your doctor if you should be tested for diabetes.
The sooner you find out, the sooner you can start making healthy changes that will benefit you now and in the future.
Type 2 diabetes risk factors include:
• Having prediabetes (blood sugar levels that are higher than normal, but not high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes);
• Being overweight;
• Being 45 years or older;
• Having a parent, brother or sister with type 2 diabetes;
• Being physically active less than three times a week;
• Ever having gestational diabetes or giving birth to a baby who weighed more than nine pounds.
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