Diabetes is a disease which results from an absolute or relative deficiency of a hormone called INSULIN in body, which regulates blood sugar levels and also has many other positive effects in body. Insulin also plays key role in energy regulation, protein metabolism and body weight maintenance. As a result not only there is high level of circulating sugar in blood but also the person becomes prone to develop a number of complications related to diabetes.

There are studies which have shown that excess consumption of carbohydrates is associated with increased risk of developing diabetes. Whatever we eat as food is directly or indirectly converted into glucose in the body, which is the utilized by the body cells for producing energy under the effect of Insulin. In normal state, whatever sweets are eaten, they are converted into glucose and thereby utilized for energy production with the help of insulin. So the blood glucose levels do not rise. However, excessive consumption of calories, in excess to that can be handled by body metabolic processes, leads to development of insulin resistance and increased demand for insulin. This coupled with decreased insulin production leads to insulin deficiency and as a result glucose load can not be utilized and circulates in blood causing high blood sugar levels.

There are three cornerstones of diabetes management – lifestyle modifications which include diet regulation and regular exercise, anti-diabetic medications and regular monitoring of blood glucose levels. Lifestyle modifications are very useful and smoking cessation, losing extra weight in obese individuals, cutting alcohol intake and stress management are very helpful in long-term control of diabetes and prevention of complications.

Yes. There is a definitely higher risk of having high blood pressure and heart attack in diabetics and these patients have 2 to 3 times higher risk of having these problems as compared to normal population. Also, these patients have higher risk of having silent heart attacks, more severe heart attacks, more number of blocks in their coronary arteries and higher risk of death as compared to their non diabetic counterparts.

Diabetes is not curable, but it is definitely controllable. And if a patient is well controlled , not only he can lead a near normal life but also one can prevent and postpone the occurrence of associated disease conditions and complications of diabetes.