Diabetes

What Do You know About Diabetes?

Diabetes numbers have risen rapidly since the 1980's. 

Are you among those affected?

Adapted from TheStar/Fitforlife/Sunday, 30October 2016

Diabetes numbers have risen rapidly since the 1980's. Are you among those affected?

IT’S a disease almost as old as man, with the first written records back in the first century BCE.

The term diabetes mellitus is derived from the Greek word dia­betes, meaning siphon, and the Latin word melhtus, meaning hon­eyed or sweet.

It’s rather self-explanatory, because at the heart of diabetes, excess sugar is “siphoned” into blood as well as the urine.

The World Health Organization has published the following facts on diabetes:

In 1980, there were 108 mil­lion people with diabetes; this number rose to 422 million in 2014.

Worldwide, the incidence of diabetes among those over 18 years of age had risen from 4.7% in 1980 to 8.5% in 2014.

An estimated 1.5 million deaths were directly caused by dia­betes and another 2.2 million deaths were attributable to high blood glucose in 2012.

Almost half of all deaths attributable to high blood glucose occur before the age of 70 years.

WHO projects that diabetes will be the seventh leading cause of death in 2030.

It’s obvious that diabetes is pos­ing huge problems worldwide, and Malaysia has not been spared this phenomenon.

Local scenario

According to Emeritus Professor Datuk Dr Mustaffa Embong, con­sultant endocrinologist and Executive Chairman of the National Diabetes Institute (NADI), an estimated 3.5 million Malaysians suffer from this chron­ic illness, half of whom may not know that they have the disease (until it is too late).

However, there doesn’t appear to be a sense of urgency when it comes to dealing with this prob­lem.

“For many Malaysians, having diabetes is no big deal. Almost everyone knows someone - a rela­tive, a friend, a neighbour, with the condition. And for those people with diabetes, except for a few they do not appear to be affected by it, nor are unduly worried about having the disease.

“There is also the prevailing belief that diabetes is not serious, as most times, there are no symp­toms and there is no need to pay attention to it. If at all a serious complication occurs, it is just unfortunate for the other person. The attitude is, ‘it will not happen to me’,” observes Prof Mustaffa.

The reality is very different.

“Untreated or poorly-managed diabetes can be associated with serious, and sometimes, fatal com­plications. Over the short term, people with diabetes may develop blurring of vision, numbness of hands and feet, frequent infections, or go into coma (and possibly die) due to diabetic ketoacidosis.

“Long term, diabetes is the com­monest cause of adult blindness, and the commonest cause of non-traumatic amputations.

“In Malaysia, about half of heart attacks and end-stage kidney fail­ure requiring dialysis can be attrib­uted to diabetes. Other serious complications include leg claudica­tion and stroke, and early deaths.

“During pregnancy, poorly-con- trolled diabetes increases risk of complications for both mother and baby.

“Importantly most of these complications can be avoided or pre­vented with proper management. But, unfortunately, many of these individuals - for reasons best known to them - do not control their diabetes well, resulting in high rates of complications,” says Prof Mustaffa.

All this should, and must, lead to better awareness about the dis­ease, and measures must be imple­mented to prevent as well as con­trol the disease.

The first step is vital important: awareness.

“For type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease, we have a fair idea of the causes: being overweight or obese, not being physically active or seldom exercise, unhealthy lifestyle with poor diet and poor sleep, and a touch of genetics. So, except for genetics, a lot can be done by indi­viduals, especially those at risk, to stop diabetes from developing,” advises Prof Mustaffa.

“Indeed, many studies, such as the Da Qing in China, Finnish Diabetes Prevention Study (DPS) and the American Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) have shown that just by adopting a healthy lifestyle through regular exercise and diet adjustments, the HcU nf diabetes could be reduced by as much as 42% to 58%,” he adds.

The basics of diabetes

So, what is diabetes? It is essen­tially a group of diseases that involve problems with the hor­mone insulin.

This hormone is regulated by the pancreas to help the body store and use the sugar and fat from the food we eat.

Dysfunction occurs when one of the following occurs:

No insulin is produced

Very little insulin is produced

The body does not respond properly to insulin

Understanding the physiology then helps us understand the vari­ous types of diabetes:

Type 1 diabetes occurs because the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas (called beta cells) are destroyed, so there’s no insulin production. It most commonly affects those under the age of 20, but may occur at any age.

In type 2 diabetes, insulin is produced. However, this is either insufficient for the body’s needs or the body does not respond appro­priately to the hormone. This is the most common form of diabetes, and is prevalent in those who are overweight. It’s also occurring at a younger age, in parallel with rising obesity rates worldwide.

Gestational diabetes, which is triggered by pregnancy. Hormonal changes in pregnancy can affect insulin, and this condition occurs in approximately 4% of all preg­nancies.

Medical literature cites three classical symptoms of diabetes - polyuria, which is frequent urina­tion; polydipsia, which is increased thirst and fluid intake; and poly­phagia, which is increased appe­tite.

In truth, there are many other possible symptoms, such as fatigue, blurry vision, cuts/bruises that are slow to heal, and tingling, pain, or numbness in the hands/feet.

However, not everyone with dia­betes may have such symptoms, and damage might have pro­gressed before they’re finally diag­nosed.

Diabetes can’t be cured, though it can be managed and controlled through a few key steps.

Keep blood sugar levels as near to normal as possible.

Maintain normal blood choles­terol and triglyceride (lipid) levels.

Controlling blood pressure. These can be done through a balanced meal plan and regular exercise.

If prescribed treatment, closely follow the doctor’s advice, and make monitoring your blood sugar and blood pressure levels a regular habit.

Getting the right information

There are many sources of credi­ble diabetes information that you can tap into.

The Government has undertak­en various campaigns on healthy lifestyle, diabetes awareness and proper nutrition over the years. Besides that, these days, there are plenty of websites that you can mine for information. Just make sure that these are credible sourc­es.

Some examples include: www. diabetes.org/ (American Diabetes Association); www. cdc.gov/diabe­tes/home/ (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention); www. webmd. com/diabetes/guide/diagno- sis-diabetes (WebMD); https://www. diabetes.org.uk/ (Diabetes UK); https://www.diabetesaustralia.com. au/ (Diabetes Australia); and

www. diabetesmalaysia. com. my/ (National Diabetes Institute, Malaysia).

At the end of the day, it’s in your hands - do you take control, or are you going to bury your head in the sand and ignore the problem?

In the month of November, The Star will be commemorating World Diabetes Day 2016 with a series of articles and activities spread over different media platforms.

This is part of our effort to heighten awareness of the disease, as well as to reduce the burden of diabetes on the nation and individ­ual Malaysians.

Diabetes

‘M’sians not bothered about diabetes’

National Diabetes Institute (Nadi) executive director Prof Datuk Mustaffa Embong. 

By Revathi Murugappan

Source: SundayStar/Nation/Sunday, 30 Oktober, 2016

PETALING JAYA: Des­pite a rise in the incidence of type 2 diabetes, many Malaysians remain apathetic when it comes to taking care of their health, said the executive chairman of the National Diabetes Institute.

Despite getting the disease at a younger age, there is still a lot to be desired in terms of diabetes control, Emeritus Prof Datuk Dr Mustaffa Embong (pic) said.

“We lack commitment and are just not bothered, despite years of campaigns and efforts to increase awareness of the disease.”

Deputy Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Hilmi Yahaya recently said that 3.5 million, or 17.5% of Malaysians aged 18 and above have diabetes.

In addition, statistics show that six out of 10 Malaysians are either overweight or obese, making the situation even more worrying.

“Not only do we hold the record as the fattest nation in South-East Asia, we now have the highest number of diabetics in the region, and yet the majority seem unperturbed and choose to lead a life of apathy,” said Prof Dr Mustaffa.

He said the response for free diabetes testing was poor, and the ones who do respond often don’t follow through with treatment.

Diabetes is closely associated with increased blood pressure, abnormal cholesterol level, high blood sugar level and excess body fat around the waist.

This cluster of conditions increa­ses one’s risk of developing a non-communicable disease (NCD) including diabetes, which is caused by the body’s inability to regulate blood glucose.

Untreated or poorly-managed diabetes can also be associated with serious, often fatal complications.

“My colleagues and I are disillusioned because we don’t think we can change Malaysian adults.

“Every day, we see overweight people walking happily with a carbonated drink in hand,” he said.

Prof Dr Mustaffa warned that children were equally vulnerable to the risk of NCDs from foetal deve­lopment through to childhood, a result of exposure to unhealthy diets and lack of exercise.

“Since we ‘cannot’ target adults, we have to target children. This can be more effective,” he said.

“We need to encourage them to eat healthily and exercise, so they can also influence their parents.”

Diabetics can lead long healthy lives as productive members of society, but they have to modify their lifestyles.

“We need to drum into our people that they need to be responsible for their own health,” emphasises Prof Dr Mustaffa.

In conjunction with World Diabetes Day 2016 on Nov 14, The Star will be commemorating the event with a series of articles spread over different media platforms in the month of November.
This is part of the newspaper’s effort to heighten awareness of the disease, as well as to reduce the burden of diabetes on the nation and individual Malaysians.

Tengku Amir joins walk to mark World Diabetes Day

KLANG: The Raja Muda of Selangor Tengku Amir Shah Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah joined more than 500 people in a 5km walkathon to mark World Diabetes Day.

He took part in the walkathon, which started from Sultan Sulaiman Stadium here yesterday.

Earlier, Tengku Amir Shah launched the national-level commemoration of World Diabetes Day and flagged off the participants.

The walkathon, with the theme “Eyes on Diabetes”, was aimed at raising awareness on diabetes and to promote a healthy lifestyle. It was organised by the Selangor branch of Malaysia Diabetes Association.

They walked around the Istana Alam Shah precinct and its adjacent landmarks in the royal town before returning to the stadium, surrounded by crisp air, thanks to a light rainfall earlier.

Association chairman Prof Datuk Dr Ikram Shah Ismail said there was rising concern over the increasing number of diabetes patients, which has reached an estimated 382 million people worldwide.

“The figure is expected to increase to 592 million people by 2035 and this is a worrying trend.

“Based on the National Health and Morbidity Survey 2015, about 3.5 million Malaysians aged 18 and above are diabetic and more than half of them are unaware about it,” he said in his opening speech.

Also present at the event was branch chairman Datin Paduka Dr Santha Kumari, who called on Malay­sians to practise a healthy lifestyle as early as possible to prevent the disease from affecting them.