Nathan Reimann

Diabetes research Paper

Nutrition 1020
 A very common disease in my family is diabetes or Diabetes mellitus. There are many

different kinds of diabetes. A general definition of diabetes is “a group of disease characterized

by high blood glucose” (smith, Collen, & Spees, 2015) or in other words “a group of diseases

that affect how your body uses blood sugar” (“Disease & Condition: Diabetes”, n.d.). The most

common of diabetes is type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Another case of diabetes is gestational

diabetes. I have a history of all of these in my family effecting the future generations to come.

“Type 1 diabetes is usually diagnosed in children and young adults and was previously

known as juvenile diabetes. Only 5% of people with diabetes have this form of the disease”

(“American Diabetes Association”, n.d.). This type of diabetes is when your body does not

produce insulin to break down sugars. Type 1 diabetes has no known causes, but “is thought to

be caused by a combination of genetic susceptibility and environmental factors, though exactly

what many of those factors are is still unclear” (“Disease & Condition: Diabetes”, n.d.).

Risk factors for Type 1 diabetes include Family history, environmental factors, dietary

factors (such as low vitamin D consumption or early intake of milk), and geography. Family

history means you have parents or relatives that have the disease and environmental factors could

mean exposure to a viral illness. As well the presence of diabetes autoantibodies has been found

to be a high risk for type 1 diabetes; Although not everyone that has diabetes autoantibodies

develops Diabetes (“Disease & Condition: Diabetes”, n.d.).

“Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes” (“American Diabetes

Association”, n.d.). Type 2 diabetes is where your body becomes resistant to insulin and the

pancreas cannot make enough to metabolize the glucose in the bloodstream (smith, Collen, &

Spees, 2015). Type 2 diabetes is uncertain what causes it, but it is believed “that genetic and
environmental factors play a role.” As well “Being overweight is strongly linked to the

development of type 2 diabetes” (“Disease & Condition: Diabetes”, n.d.).

Like Type 1 diabetes, Type 2 has a similar risk factor of family history as well as

personal history. Other risk factors include weight, inactivity, race, age, gestational diabetes,

polycystic ovary syndrome, high blood pressure, and abnormal cholesterol/triglyceride levels.

Polycystic ovary syndrome is condition in women who have irregular menstrual periods, excess

hair growth and obesity “Disease & Condition: Diabetes”, n.d.).

The third type of diabetes is gestational diabetes. This means diabetes caused during

pregnancy. Only about 9% of pregnancies have developments of gestational diabetes. It is caused

by hormones in the placenta decrease the efficiency of insulin which causes an increase in blood

glucose. Generally, between weeks 20 and 28 is when gestational diabetes is found. This

diabetes does not mean you had it previously or will have after giving birth (smith, Collen, &

Spees, 2015).

Gestational diabetes has a few risk factors as well. They are age, family or personal

history, weight, and race. Personal history referring to if you have had prediabetes. As well it

refers to if you have had gestation diabetes before, given birth to a large baby, and/or had an

unexplained stillbirth. Race for all types of diabetes refers to people who are black, Hispanic,

American Indian, or Asian have a higher risk of getting diabetes (“Disease & Condition:

Diabetes”, n.d.)

There are many common symptoms for diabetes. Some of them are and not excluded to

increased thirst and urination, increased hunger, fatigue, blurred vision, numbness or tingling of

the feet or hands, sores that do not heal, unexplained weight loss. Most of the symptoms of type
1 diabetes can have a quick onset, whereas type 2 diabetes symptoms can take years to fully

come through. (“Diabetes”, n.d.).

Like all diseases there can be certain complications that arise when you have a disease.

Cardiovascular disease or a stroke are more likely if you have diabetes for a long time. Nerve

damage or neuropathy is caused by the excess sugar that hurts the blood vessels that nourish the

nerves. This is what causes the tingling, numbness, burning or pain that diabetics feel. As part of

damaging the blood vessels, diabetes can damage the filter of the blood, kidneys, that could

result in End-stage kidney disease or the need of dialysis (“Disease & Condition: Diabetes”, n.d.)

Other complications of diabetes are eye damage. Damage to the eye can cause blindness

and lead to other eye diseases such cataracts or glaucoma. Foot damage becomes a serious

problem as blood flow and nerve damage can eventually lead to cuts, blisters, serious infections,

and amputations of toe, foot, or leg. Lastly diabetes can cause problems with Alzheimer’s

disease (specifically for type 2 diabetes), hearing impartment, and skin conditions such as

bacterial and fungal infections (“Disease & Condition: Diabetes”, n.d.).

Preventing all types of diabetes would be idle. Sadly Type 1 diabetes is unpreventable,

but there are ways to prevent gestational diabetes and type 2 diabetes. One of the main things

that anyone can do is to eat healthier. We should “Choose foods lower in fat and calories and

higher in fiber. Focus on fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Strive for variety to prevent

boredom” (“Disease & Condition: Diabetes”, n.d.). We can also prevent or delay it by losing

weight at least 5 to 7 percent of what we weigh now if we are overweight (“Diabetes”, n.d.). As

well we can remain physically active by getting at 30 minutes of moderate physical exercise in

our day (“Disease & Condition: Diabetes”, n.d.). By taking such measures as these we can

ensure that our chances of getting diabetes will be lowered significantly.

 There are many ways to treat diabetes. Because each case of diabetes is special the way

in which we go about treating the condition varies from person to person. As mentioned

previously exercise is one of the great ways to help treat the symptom. Following this would be

diet. If we can balance the food we eat and maintain that with exercise there is no need to use

medications to treat diabetes (smith, Collen, & Spees, 2015)

Now, if you have to take medications for diabetes the most common form is insulin.

Insulin is “a hormone made by your pancreas that helps your body use glucose for energy.

Insulin helps to control blood glucose levels” (“Diabetes”, n.d.). The idea with this hormone is to

make sure there is not too much or too little blood glucose or sugar in the blood stream. There

are also other injectable and oral medications that can be taken for diabetes treatment besides

insulin (smith, Collen, & Spees, 2015).

For type 1 diabetes, they must take the medication because their body no longer produces

it. And they will need to take it with meals and several times a day in order to maintain healthy.

Type 2 diabetes can be regulated a lot more just with dieting and exercise alone. Unfortunately,

many still do need to take insulin or other medications to regulate their blood sugar. Similarly,

for gestational diabetes diet and exercise is the first route for treatment; following would be

medications like insulin or metformin (“Diabetes”, n.d.).

Because insulin is the most common type of medication to treat diabetes there are lots of

different types of insulin. Generally, the difference has to do with the amount of time it takes to

working in your body. There is rapid acting, normal acting, intermediate acting, and long acting.

Rapid acting takes about 15 minutes to work and lasts between 2 to 4 hours. Normal acting takes

30 minutes and lasts 3 to 6 hours. Whereas intermediated can take 2 to 4 hours for onset and last
12 to 18 hours. Lastly, long acting can take several hours for onset and will last for about 24

hours or so (“Diabetes”, n.d.).

For insulin users there are a lot of different ways to take the medication. One of the most

common is a needle and syringe. You would draw insulin from the vial and inject into yourself.

The best place is in the belly but, you may want to rotate the spots that you do inject it in. Theses

shots you will have to do every day. Some users have to do multiple shots as well in order to hit

their goals of glucose levels (“Diabetes”, n.d.).

Other ways to administer are pens, inhalers, and jet injectors. Pens are like syringes but

the do cost more even though many people find them to be easier to use. Inhalers let you breathe

in a powdered insulin through your mouth. This way it can be quickly absorbed into the

bloodstream. Jet injector “sends a fine spray of insulin into the skin at high pressure instead of

using a needle to deliver the insulin” (“Diabetes”, n.d.).

Finally, there is a pump machine that can be used as well. This machine sit on the outside

of your body. It is connected to a needle and tube that you have placed on the same spot of your

body for some time. “Insulin then pumps from the machine through the tube into your body 24

hours a day” (“Diabetes”, n.d.). This way you do not have to consistently check and re-check to

make sure that you are balanced and at a good place.

Other practices to monitor blood sugar is through tests. Most diabetics have to prick their

finger and have blood monitor let them know how they are doing. Whether they need to take

more insulin or eat something sweet. As well most people with diabetes will have regular check

ups with their doctor and even give blood to do tests. A very common one is A1C. “a test that
measures a person's average blood glucose level over the past 2 to 3 months” (“American

Diabetes Association”, n.d.).

One of my good family members, Richard, is a type 1 diabetic. He found out he was type

1 diabetic when he was really little. He said, “I don’t remember not being diabetic, so I don’t

have that yearning feel to be ‘normal’ as people who get it later in life that I have talked to.”

Growing there were challenges with medication and adjusting to a what the everyday life of kids

were doing. “I just wanted to do what everyone else was doing around me,” Richard told me

“My mother and father worried that I wouldn’t be able to enjoy my life like other kids around me

and be able to participate in all the activities” (personal communication, April 15, 2018).

Now a much older Richard continues on in his daily life as if this disease was something

normal to have. “It is a part of my life and I will have to continue to live with it. Luckily, I have

been able to do everything that I have wanted to. I played high school sports, go boating, hiking,

visit foreign lands, everything” he said. I asked Richard what he would tell others who have

diabetes or possibly may get diabetes. He said, “Don’t let it define you. Make it work and learn

how to change your routine so that you can continue to live a happy and healthy life as much as

possible. As for those of you whom may become diabetic, do what you can now to prevent it.

Get up, exercise and diet. For people like me I can’t change this, but you can” (personal

communication, April 15, 2018)

Diabetes is a disease that can change your life and be difficult to live with. Not many like

my relative Richard are lucky to able to live and deal with it. “A disease that affects 28.9 million

adults, or 12.3% of the North American Population 20 years or older” (smith, Collen, & Spees,

2015). Like mentioned previously this disease can bring and cause other serious problems. The

goal of most institutions is to eradicate this disease from our world. The saddest thing is the most
common type of diabetes (type 2) is preventable with the proper dieting and physical activity.

Let us all put our best efforts into making sure that we can overcome this disease.
References

National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, Diabetes

retrieved from https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/diabetes

Mayo Clinic Disease & Conditions: Diabetes

Retrieved from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/diabetes/symptoms-
causes/syc-20371444

American Diabetes Association diabetes basics home, type 2, common terms

Retrieved from http://www.diabetes.org/?loc=logo

Smith, Anee; Colleen, Angela; & Spees, Colleen 2015; Wardlaw’s Contemporary Nutrition: A
Functional approach retrieved from
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