Medical experts have debunked widely held beliefs that
Diabetes is a condition caused by excessive consumption of sugar which requires
special diet.
The experts made the clarification at a Capacity Building
Workshop on Diabetes for Health Journalist in Lagos to herald this year’s World
Diabetes Day.
The workshop, organised by Sanofi, a global healthcare
organisation, has the theme “Equipping Present-day Journalists for Effective
Reporting of Diabetes.’’
The World Diabetes Day is marked annually on Nov. 14 and the
theme for 2017 is “Women and Diabetes – Our Right to a Healthy Future’’.
Diabetes, often referred to by doctors as Diabetes Mellitus,
describes a group of metabolic diseases in which the person has high blood
glucose (blood sugar), either because insulin production is inadequate, or
because the body’s cells do not respond properly to insulin, or both.
Patients with high blood sugar will typically experience
polyuria (frequent urination), they will become increasingly thirsty
(polydipsia) and hungry (polyphagia).
Ifedayo Odeniyi, an Endocrinologist and a Senior Lecturer at
the Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, explains
that diabetes is a problem with the body’s management of glucose.
“Most people believe that when you have diabetes, it is
because you eat too much sugar, this is not correct.
“Diabetes is not as a result of consuming sugar or sugary
things, but rather, it is as a result of the body’s inability to handle glucose
in the body.
“The glucose comes from all the food we eat whether it is
meat, carbohydrate, protein or fat; so, in their normal forms, the body does
not recognise them.
“The only thing the body recognises is glucose as a source
of energy; when eat `eba’, `fufu’ foods prepared from cassava, rice and others,
the body changes them to glucose,” he said.
Mr. Odeniyi added: “The body needs glucose for energy for us
to move around, eyes to see, brain to function and for every part of the body
to function well.
“However, before the body can make use of this glucose, one
hormone is very important and that is insulin.
“After we have eaten and glucose is in the system, the
pancreas produces insulin, (which lies on body cells), when the body senses
there is glucose in the system.
“When it does that, the channel is opened for the insulin to
go into the body cell for them to be broken down into energy, carbon dioxide
and water.
“So, insulin can be likened to be the key that opens the
door for the glucose to go in.
“Some people’s body may not be producing insulin at all, as
in those that have Type 1 diabetes.’’
He noted that some people might be producing insulin but it
is either it was not enough or was not working well enough to allow the glucose
to be absorbed into the blood stream.
“This is what happens in those that have Type 2 diabetes,
so, it is not the food that is causing diabetes,’’ he said.
Mr. Odeniyi, who is also an Honorary Consultant
Endocinologist at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), said that most
people believed that someone with diabetes must be on a special diet.
“There is no special diet for diabetes and there is nothing
like diabetic diet.
“We hear that the diet for people with diabetes should be
beans, unripe plantain and wheat.
“Diabetic patients can eat everything; the only thing that
should change is the quantity of which must be regulated.
“There are so many diets but none specific for diabetes; in
which ever environment one is, use the food that is culturally accepted to the
patient to manage the person.
“So, as long you can control the calories, a patient can eat
any type of food,” Mr. Odeniyi said.
Oladimeji Agbolade, Head, External Affairs, Sanofi, said
that diabetes had become a global pandemic.
According to him, as at 2015, it is estimated that 415
million adults have diabetes and it is expected to rise to 642 million by 2040.
He said that managing the disease was tedious and
time-consuming but required effective management which would include taking
extra care around food and exercise, as well as monitoring of blood levels
throughout the day.
Mr. Agbolade urged the federal government to make a policy
that would ensure that Nigerians were compulsorily tested for diabetes anytime
they went to a hospital.
The most common types of diabetes are: Type 1, a chronic
condition in which the pancreas produces little or no insulin, and Type 2, a
chronic condition that affects the way the body processes blood sugar
(glucose).
Others are Prediabetes in which blood sugar is high, but not
high enough to be type 2 diabetes and Gestational diabetes, a form of high
blood sugar affecting pregnant women.
