World Diabetes Day

This year, emphasis is placed on the importance of knowing the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and the need to access appropriate information and care to control diabetes-related complications.

Continuing with the campaign started 2 years ago, this edition of World Diabetes Day continues to highlight the importance of diabetes education as one of the main factors to improve the control of the disease, or to prevent its development. An aspect that we share, and that we have highlighted in Diabetes Solutions previously.

This edition also focuses on type 2 diabetes through the campaign «Know your risk, know your response» (know the risk, know your response). This campaign refers to the usefulness of knowing the risk we have of suffering from type 2 diabetes, and in this way being able to delay or avoid its appearance, as well as raising awareness of the complications associated with diabetes.

own International Diabetes Federation has made a test available to users around the world in several languages, to be able to self-assess the risk of suffering from type 2 diabetes based on our diet, our health, our body morphology, or our lifestyle habits.

Take the test

It is a simple test, but it can be useful to quickly find out some risk factors associated with the development of this disease.

Data and numbers

• The number of people with diabetes increased from 108 million in 1980 to 422 million in 2014. The prevalence of this disease has been increasing more rapidly in low-income and middle-income countries than in high-income countries.
• Diabetes is a major cause of blindness, kidney failure, myocardial infarction, stroke, and lower limb amputation.
• Between 2000 and 2019, age-standardized diabetes mortality rates increased by 3%.
• In 2019, diabetes and diabetic nephropathy caused 2.0 million deaths.
• Healthy eating, regular physical exercise, maintaining a normal weight and avoiding tobacco use prevent type 2 diabetes or delay its onset.
• It is possible to treat diabetes and avoid or delay its consequences through physical activity and a healthy diet, combined with medication and regular testing.

Types of diabetes

Diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or when the body does not effectively use the insulin it produces. The effect of uncontrolled diabetes is hyperglycemia (increased blood sugar).

Type 1 diabetes (previously called insulin-dependent or juvenile diabetes) is characterized by the absence of insulin synthesis.

Type 2 diabetes (previously called non-insulin-dependent or adult-onset diabetes) results from the body’s inability to use insulin effectively, often resulting from excess weight or physical inactivity.

Gestational diabetes corresponds to hyperglycemia that is detected for the first time during pregnancy.

Prevention

The best way to effectively prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes is to change your habits.

To help prevent this type of diabetes and its complications, you should:

• achieve and maintain a healthy body weight.
• Stay physically active with at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise each day.
• Follow a healthy diet, without sugar or saturated fats.
• No Smoking.

10/10/2023

Drinking black tea daily can reduce the chances of developing type 2 diabetes, as well as mitigate its symptoms in adults, according to new research presented at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD), held in Hamburg between October 2 and 6.

The study, carried out by researchers from the University of Adelaide in Australia and Southeast University in China, concluded that those who consume this drink every day have a 47% lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes than people without this habit. Black tea, experts say, improves glucose control and metabolism thanks to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects.

To validate these findings, the same researchers continue to study the benefits of black tea in patients with type 2 diabetes.

10/27/2023

Computational scientists are adopting an ancient technique already used in China to develop a diagnostic system capable of predicting diseases such as diabetes, using Artificial intelligence.

In this sense, engineers from the Middle Technical University (MTU), in Baghdad, and the University of Southern Austria (UniSA) have devised a diagnostic system that, through a USB camera and a computer, captures images of the tongue of patients. And through graphic document processing techniques, this method has managed to identify diabetes with a reliability of 94%.

These results show how some characteristics of the tongue, such as yellowness, can be a reliable marker to identify diabetes. In addition, they open the door to greater implementation of AI-based technologies in the development of new health diagnostic tests.

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ADIVA (Valladolid Diabetes Association)

The Valladolid Diabetes Association joins this commemoration by organizing, on this World Diabetes Day, activities aimed at patients and the interested public. Specific:

• The installation of 3 tables to carry out blood glucose checks and delivery of information material on diabetes.

The tables will be located in the Plaza de Fuente Dorada, Calle de Santiago and Plaza de Zorrilla from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Also, it is an opportunity to detect, with capillary blood glucose levels, possible cases of people who are unaware of suffering from this pathology and show figures that indicate a certain risk in the short/medium term.