healthwise4all.com

Type II Diabetes -
Affluent Society’s Very Own Epidemic

Diet, exercise and popping pills …

… seems to be the lifetime prognosis for those suffering Type II diabetes. Type II arises from insulin resistance or decreased sensitivity to insulin. Less insulin is produced in the pancreas and may cease altogether. It is thought that the abnormal response to insulin involves the cell membrane’s insulin receptors.

As a Type II diabetic himself, the writer can recall his doctor, when the symptoms first presented, explaining that he had elevated levels of insulin in the blood as his body was less sensitive to that hormone. So began the series of prescriptions that continues to this day. Medications to heighten insulin sensitivity, others to stimulate production of insulin, something to reduce the liver’s glucose production, something for elevated cholesterol, something for blood pressure, something to thin the blood, something to do this or that, not to mention vitamin and mineral supplements. All to be taken in conjunction with daily exercise and a diet biased towards foods with a low glycemic index (LGI). All these things are intended to ward off hyperglycemia. Nonetheless, it is a distinct possibility that over time, as the condition worsens less insulin will be produced, and the writer may have to inject synthetic insulin as is the case for his Type I brethren.

Obesity, Age, Environment and Heredity

It is thought that environmental factors may be a contributor to the modern swelling of numbers of Type II diabetes patients. For example, it has been reported that there is a link between bisphenol A (a chemical used in the production of some clear polycarbonate plastics), and a number of medical conditions including diabetes. The chemical, detectable in urinalysis, has been found to alter cell behaviour at levels expressed in parts per trillion – and is or has been present in a variety of food packaging items, beverage cans, baby bottles and microwave cooking vessels. The US Government’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has noted that 95% of Americans have detectable amounts of this chemical in their systems.

Over the last 10 years or so, Type II diabetes has become increasingly prevalent in children and teenagers. Some commentators point to increased childhood obesity as a causal factor, together with the sort of environmental considerations mentioned above.

Advanced age is a factor – diabetes occurs in perhaps a fifth of elderly people in continental North America. Kinship may predestine you to life with diabetes – it runs in families.

Obesity is the factor, especially fat carried around the middle which predisposes the carrier to insulin resistance.

Where did that come from?

For all the newsworthiness of the current Type II diabetes epidemic, diabetes may go unnoticed and undiagnosed because of the insignificance of the symptoms. However, as we have observed elsewhere in these articles, unnoticed, undiagnosed, untreated Type II diabetes can result, inter alia, in blindness, amputation, renal failure, liver damage, and heart problems.

A Life’s Work

“Cut the carbs, go for a daily walk, and lose weight!” Most Type II diabetes sufferers will have heard this or something like it when first diagnosed. Even modest weight loss (10 to 15 lb) can improve insulin sensitivity. Some diabetics have acted on this advice to successfully control their blood sugar levels for the rest of their lives.

Others (most?), are treated with oral medications. Drugs (e.g., sulfonylureas), stimulate insulin production. Other drugs (e.g., metformin), reduce the liver’s glucose production and have some impact on insulin resistance. Yet other drugs (e.g., thiazolidinediones), act to considerably modify insulin resistance. These medications are often used in combination and their relative doses adjusted by general practitioners or consultant endocrinologists. If treatment with medication ultimately fails as insulin production declines further, then Type II diabetes can still be controlled by injected insulin as for  Type I diabetes.

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