#WorldHealthDay focus on diabetes

Wits students had screenings for glucose and blood pleasure, among others, as part of Campus Health Week being hosted and run by students for students on the different Wits Campuses this week.172 Photo: Matthews Baloyi / 2016/04/05

Wits students had screenings for glucose and blood pleasure, among others, as part of Campus Health Week being hosted and run by students for students on the different Wits Campuses this week.172 Photo: Matthews Baloyi / 2016/04/05

Published Apr 7, 2016

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Johannesburg 0 ”Eat to live, not live to eat” - these are the famous words of Greek philosopher Socrates.

As the globe commemorates World Health Day on Thursday (April 7), this year’s focus, diabetes, is especially relevant for South Africans because of its prevalence here.

According to the Department of Health, more than 2.2 million cases of diabetes were diagnosed across the country last year.

“Key factors in both the prevention and management of diabetes are weight management, diet and exercise - the three go hand in hand,” said the resident nutritionist at Adventure Boot Camp, Kim Hofmann.

“The most prevalent form of diabetes is type 2, a largely preventable and certainly manageable disease,” she said.

About 350 million people worldwide have diabetes, a number which, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), is predicted to more than double in the next 20 years. This is particularly in countries such as South Africa.

A recent WHO report on diabetes in sub-Saharan Africa said women were the most at-risk group in South Africa. The report explained that reduced physical activity and the high-fat, high-sugar diet that accompanies an inactive urban lifestyle was the main driver behind the sharp increase.

In a statement, the Department of Health said diabetes was a chronic disease that occurred either when the pancreas did not produce enough insulin or when the body could not effectively use the insulin it produced.

“Insulin, a hormone that regulates blood sugar, gives us the energy that we need to live. If it cannot get into the cells to be burnt as energy, sugar builds up to harmful levels in the blood,” it explained.

There are two main forms of diabetes. People with type 1 cannot make their own insulin and, therefore, require insulin injections to survive.

People with type 2 diabetes, which forms about 90 percent of diagnosed cases, can produce their own insulin, but not enough of it.

Being overweight and inactive puts people at a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes because the body’s insulin needs are raised.

Dr Vash Mungal-Singh, chief executive of the Heart and Stroke Foundation SA, said diabetes more than doubles the risk for heart disease or strokes. “This is why the HSFSA is joining the fight and emphasising the importance of preventing diabetes.”

Mungal-Singh explained that diabetes and heart disease share very similar root causes: unhealthy lifestyles, inactivity and excess weight.

“Until recently, type 2 diabetes was seen only in adults, but our lifestyles are changing, which means we are becoming less active and eating unhealthily, and obesity levels are soaring.

“Alarmingly, type 2 diabetes is now also occurring in children, putting them at risk for heart disease at a younger age,” he said.

Type 2 diabetes can be prevented through lifestyle changes which include healthier eating, getting more exercise and kicking bad habits such as smoking.

The Star

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