Causes, Complications, and Prevention of Diabetes - Essay Example

Type II diabetes, also known as non-insulin-dependent diabetes or adult-onset diabetes is the most common form. Diabetes is an internal disease, which is caused due to the build-up of glucose in the blood and insufficient glucose provided to the cells in the body. Living organisms need the energy to survive and for this they intake food. The food that they eat goes through a lot of internal processes to be converted into energy. The hormone that plays the main role in this conversion is insulin, which is secreted by the pancreas. It takes glucose from the blood and provides it to all the body cells and this is how it is turned into energy. A person suffers from diabetes because his pancreas either fails to secrete a sufficient amount of insulin or because the body does not utilize the already secreted hormone accordingly. He or she is seen to have high blood sugar levels or hyperglycemia.

Causes of Type II Diabetes:

Type II diabetes is mainly seen in people who have crossed 45 years. But with the modern lifestyle and the way the world works nowadays, even children and youngsters have started being affected by it. The percentage of youth suffering from diabetes is increasing steadily. To be safe from this disease, one needs to know the different factors that lead to it. Research has shown that “genetic susceptibility” (Causes of Diabetes para 9) and “environmental factors” (Causes of Diabetes para 12) such as obesity, lack of physical activity, metabolic syndrome, beta-cell dysfunction, etc, are the main reasons behind type II diabetes Often at times, genes play a very important role in placing a person under high risk or low risk of being prone to diabetes. This means that a person, whose parents and siblings suffered from this disease, stands a greater chance of falling prey to it. Inheriting such genes, especially “variants of the TCF7L2 gene” (Causes of Diabetes para 24) leads to restriction in the amount of insulin that is produced, which causes the blood sugar levels to rise abnormally.

Ethnicity also accounts as a factor and mostly “African Americans, Alaska Natives, American Indians, etc” (Causes of Diabetes para 22) are seen to have diabetes. Certain genes also bring about the tendency in people to become obese. Obesity, mainly the one where the individual has excessive belly fat, along with the absence of exercise cause a lot of cardiovascular problems and ultimately lead to diabetes. Metabolic syndrome is seen in people who have insulin resistance, due to which the cells of the body become unable to absorb the glucose present in the blood. Beta-cell dysfunction causes a substantial difference in the amount of insulin that is secreted. When glucose is produced in huge amounts, a condition called glucose toxicity occurs in which the beta cells are vitiated. Other factors include over secretion of glucose by the liver, hindrances in communication among cells, etc.

Complications of Type II Diabetes:

Type II diabetes is a very serious disease since one of the main hormones, insulin, which controls the blood sugar levels as well as the major activity of the body, that is converting glucose into energy, is tampered with. Diabetes itself is caused by factors that are quite harmful to the body, and when these factors along with diabetes together are present, the person suffering definitely runs the risk of being affected by other diseases. Type II diabetes is thus, associated with certain other diseases which prove to be fatal in some cases such as heart diseases, neuropathies, retinopathy, kidney diseases, gastroparesis, etc.

Prevention of Type II Diabetes:

Analyzing various causes of diabetes has enabled scientists to come up with prevention as well as delaying methods. Though it still needs more research the prevailing studies have proven to be very helpful in detecting different ways to prevent the disease rather than curing it. The best thing to do is to change the lifestyle and upgrade it to a healthier one by incorporating various exercises and balanced diets into it. Obese people need to lose weight and start eating food that is low in fat and they also need to regulate their calorie intake. People should try to keep their blood glucose level as well as blood pressure normal. They should go for checkups regularly and this will help in detecting even the subtlest symptoms. Therefore, according to the aforementioned ways, diabetes can be prevented.