Diabetes can lead to some serious health consequences, but with careful management you can reduce the risk. Known as the ‘silent killer’, this disease has affected 3.9 million people in the UK. Diabetes is usually divided into two types, 1 and 2, Type 2 accounting for 90% of all diabetes. Diabetic symptoms can be controlled to a large extent by incorporating a proper diet plan along with a daily exercise routine.
Let’s look at certain myths and facts surrounding diabetes:
Myth: People with diabetes can’t eat sweets or deserts.
Fact: It is a popular misconception that diabetes can be caused by eating too many sweets and chocolates. While sweets do affect your blood sugar and body weight, they do not cause you to develop diabetes. When you have diabetes, your body is unable to use insulin correctly, make any or enough insulin, or sometimes both. As insulin helps to move sugar from the blood into the cells, the lack of it causes sugar to build up in your blood causing diabetes. Therefore, while you can enjoy sweets even if you are diabetic, it is important to moderate the intake and manage your blood sugar.
Myth: A diabetic cannot consume any type of sweetener.
Fact: Diet plans for Type 2 diabetes usually exclude direct sweeteners. Diabetics can therefore opt for sugar substitutes such as fructose sugars (fruits) and artificial sweeteners for that purpose. While getting artificial sweeteners or fruit, be mindful of your portion intake.
Myth: If you are overweight or obese, you will eventually develop type 2 diabetes.
Fact: Being obese or overweight is just one of the risk factors for developing diabetes, but there are other factors such as family history and age that put you at an increased risk. While weight management is crucial for managing diabetes and your overall health, most overweight people might never develop type 2 diabetes, and many people with type 2 diabetes are at a normal weight.
Myth: Diabetes is contagious. It can be passed on from one person to another easily.
Fact: Diabetes cannot be caught off someone else, is not a contagious/communicable disease. This condition cannot be passed on to others like a cold or flu. While there seems to be a genetic link in diabetes, wherein the likelihood of developing the condition can be passed on from your parents, lifestyle factors also play a part in the onset.
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