Break 9 misunderstandings about diabetes

healthy 40 0 2023-01-19

Diabetes is caused by eating too much sugar. A disease that causes blood sugar to rise. Sufficient insulin to digest hyperglycemia, type 1 diabetes is mainly caused by autoimmune response that destroys pancreatic β cells. Type 2 diabetes is usually caused by poor insulin secretion or decreased insulin sensitivity in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Type 2 diabetes is more closely related to genetic factors. There are no absolute indicators for taking insulin and taking hypoglycemic drugs. Because the body has some insulin to make oral medicine work, many sugar lovers believe that diabetes is eaten out of "reducing the intake of staple foods to control sugar." eating less is not only easy to lead to hypoglycemia and hunger ketosis: blindly reducing or not eating staple foods will lead to insufficient intake of carbohydrates and excessive decomposition of body fat and protein. A large number of metabolites produced by the decomposition of fat and protein during hunger.

With the continuous improvement of people's living standards, the incidence of diabetes, known as "wealth disease", is also on the rise. its harm to the human body is second only to cancer and has become the second killer of modern diseases.

China is the largest country with diabetes. According to statistics, in 2021, the number of diabetics aged between 20 and 79 in China has reached 141 million. How to stay away from diabetes? Li Yuxiu, deputy director and chief physician of Endocrinology Department of Peking Union Medical College Hospital, takes you to update your knowledge about diabetes.

Li Yuxiu, Deputy Director and Chief physician of Endocrinology Department of Peking Union Medical College Hospital

Is diabetes caused by eating too much sugar?

Many people think that diabetes is caused by eating too much sugar. In fact, it is a disease caused by a variety of factors that impair the body's ability to deal with the intake of "sugar", resulting in an increase in blood sugar. And the sugar intake here does not only refer to candies and snacks, but mainly refers to carbohydrates.

Diabetes is divided into type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes, the etiology is completely different.

When the blood sugar rises, the normal pancreas will "send" enough insulin to digest the high blood sugar, but when the insulin secretion is insufficient, or when the insulin is "defeated", it will not be able to "eliminate" the hyperglycemia and eventually lead to diabetes. The main cause of type 1 diabetes is the destruction of pancreatic β cells by autoimmune reaction, resulting in insulin deficiency and the increase of blood glucose. Type 2 diabetes is usually caused by poor insulin secretion or reduced insulin sensitivity in patients with diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is more closely related to genetic factors, and future generations are more likely to develop diabetes than others if their grandparents have diabetes.

Is taking insulin "addictive"?

Insulin is a hormone secreted by the human body, there is no such thing as "addiction". For patients with diabetes, there is no absolute indicator for taking insulin and taking hypoglycemic drugs, which is completely determined by the condition, so please follow the doctor's advice.

If diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, it means that the islets do not function properly and generally need to be treated with insulin. For type 2 diabetes, if the islets can still function normally, they can be treated by oral medicine, because some insulin in the body can make oral medicine work. If the course of the disease is long or the disease develops rapidly, when the islet function is absolutely insufficient, you should choose to take insulin in time.

If you want to control your blood sugar, you have to be hungry?

Many sugar lovers think that diabetes is eaten, and that high blood sugar is due to eating more, so they use "hunger therapy" to reduce sugar. Another misunderstanding is to control sugar by reducing the intake of staple foods.

In fact, eating less can not only lead to hypoglycemia and hungry ketosis, but also lead to rebound hyperglycemia after hypoglycemia, causing blood sugar to fluctuate sharply. Blindly reducing or not eating staple foods will lead to insufficient carbohydrate intake and nutritional imbalance.

At the same time, if the calorie intake is insufficient, it will also cause excessive decomposition of fat and protein in the body, which in turn leads to a decline in immunity. In addition, a large number of metabolites produced by fat and protein decomposition during hunger need to be excreted through the liver and kidneys, thus increasing the burden on the liver and kidneys, resulting in damage to liver and kidney function over time.

In fact, the total calories consumed in food are more closely related to blood sugar. People with diabetes should pay more attention to the balanced intake of carbohydrate, fat and protein. Scientific diet therapy is based on maintaining a balanced diet, varies from person to person, appropriately limits the total calories of the diet, and pays attention to food diversity, rather than blindly starving.

Can you rest assured to eat "sugar-free food"?

In recent years, under the banner of "0 sucrose", "sugar-free food" has become an "online celebrity" product in the food area of the supermarket. Many people with diabetes cannot help but "buy" when they see the "sugar free" and "0 sugar" on the food bags.

In fact, these foods and drinks, such as "0 sugar biscuits", "sugar-free moon cakes" and "sugar-free drinks", just do not contain sucrose or contain more plant fiber and pectin, have no less starch and fat, and have no lower calories than ordinary foods.

At the same time, some "sugar-free foods" that retain the sweet taste, although they do not contain sucrose, may add more fructose or substitute sugar, and fructose can also cause blood sugar to rise.

Common sweeteners such as maltitol, sorbitol and xylitol belong to sugar substitutes, which are not real sugars, but a sweet carbohydrate that is metabolized differently from sugar in the body. Although it will not be completely absorbed by the body, it also has calories, and eating in large amounts can also affect blood sugar levels and cause blood sugar to get out of control. What's more, eating too many foods that contain sugar alcohol sweeteners may also cause diarrhea.

The diet of patients with diabetes should reasonably distribute the intake of carbohydrates, fat and protein according to the total calories they need every day, and keep in mind that "sugar-free foods" should not be eaten more, but should be combined with their daily diet.

Diabetes is for the elderly?

Type 1 diabetes often occurs in adolescence, and type 2 diabetes is more common in middle-aged and elderly people. According to a relevant survey, the prevalence rate of diabetes in China is about 11%. People over 70 years old account for 30%. This is because with the increase of age, the body's metabolic ability decreases, the ability of insulin secretion decreases to a certain extent, and the risk of type 2 diabetes increases.

But that doesn't mean young people won't get diabetes. With the continuous improvement of living standards, people eat more high-fat, high-sugar, high-calorie foods, but less and less physical activity, these factors make more young people suffer from type 2 diabetes. Therefore, even young people should maintain reasonable eating habits and strengthen physical exercise, especially those with a family history of diabetes, must go to the hospital regularly to measure their blood sugar.

What's the use of a home blood glucose monitor?

For diabetic patients with a long history of diabetes, it is recommended to use a family blood glucose meter. Although compared with the hospital, the value of the family blood glucose meter may not be completely accurate, but its immediacy and convenience can play a role in monitoring and guiding the life style of patients. For example, when a patient ate two apples, a family blood glucose meter found a severe increase in blood sugar, giving the patient a correct understanding of the match between blood sugar and lifestyle. At the same time, patients should also maintain the habit of regularly coming to the hospital to measure blood sugar, such as understanding glycosylated proteins, fasting blood glucose and so on. In the short-term adjustment of drugs, the value of the family blood glucose meter can also be used as a reference for doctors over a period of time.

No symptoms, no need to worry about high blood sugar?

After being diagnosed with diabetes, if you do not pay attention to the control of blood sugar, it will cause a lot of adverse consequences and complications.

Break 9 misunderstandings about diabetes

As blood vessels spread all over the body, long-term blood sugar fluctuations will lead to damage to important organs, nerves and blood vessels of the body. the incidence of fundus disease, cerebrovascular disease, heart disease, nephropathy, vascular system disease, peripheral neuropathy, diabetic foot and other diseases will increase, and even have the risk of blindness, amputation and death. Therefore, patients with diabetes should adhere to the treatment plan formulated by doctors, adhere to taking hypoglycemic drugs or insulin on time, control blood sugar within a reasonable range, and avoid abnormal fluctuations in blood sugar.

There is no way to prevent diabetes?

Diabetes can not only be prevented, but also can take different preventive measures according to different stages.

Studies have confirmed that lifestyle interventions can reduce the incidence of diabetes, including maintaining a healthy diet, eating habits and exercising. Therefore, in the first stage, high-risk groups of diabetes should control their mouths, spread their legs, delay the onset of the disease as much as possible, and achieve early detection and early intervention. Maintaining 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week, eating less sweets and high-fat and high-calorie foods and high-salt foods, weight control and regular screening are all effective non-drug measures to control the occurrence of diabetes.

If to the second stage, that is, diabetes has been diagnosed, then it is necessary to closely monitor blood sugar, regular diet, through active and effective intervention and treatment, as far as possible to prevent cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, diabetic retinopathy, diabetic nephropathy, diabetic foot and other complications. At the same time, regularly go to the hospital for complications screening, so that doctors on the urine protein, fundus, heart and kidney function and other comprehensive evaluation, prevention of complications.

If the course of the disease is long or there are complications, this is the third stage of diabetes, reasonable treatment can delay the progress of complications and reduce the risk of disability and death.

You can eat and drink as much as you like after taking insulin?

After taking insulin, you can do whatever you want and eat whatever you want.

No, no! If diabetic patients do not pay attention to diet control, first, it will cause blood sugar fluctuations, it is difficult to determine the best dose of insulin treatment; second, it will cause high blood sugar, insulin use will increase accordingly, and with the increase of insulin dosage, the weight of patients will continue to rise, and obesity is precisely an important cause of insulin resistance, resulting in difficulties in treatment.

In fact, when the treatment of diabetic patients is changed from hypoglycemic drugs to insulin, it means that the islet function of the patients has further deteriorated, which means that a more stringent lifestyle is needed. In the treatment of diabetes, diet control is the basis of all treatments. Only on the basis of scientific diet treatment and drug treatment, can blood sugar be reduced more effectively and more safely.

Source: Chinese women