Nowadays the prevenalance of diabetes mellitus has increased due to the changes in diet as well as lifestyles. Diabetes is preventable if people eat healthy food on time and adopt a proper lifestyle. The important fact is that the patients will be in a state of pre Diabetes for long years before getting Diabetes. Dietary and lifestyle interventions with proper guidance and support from a diabetes team will help to prevent progression to Diabetes. Sometimes reversal of Diabetes is also possible with the help of proper medications, along with diet and exercise.
People with a family history of diabetes, those who are overweight or obese, women with a history of gestational diabetes or PCOD, people with a history of pancreatic calculi etc, should undergo health checkups including HbA1C at regular intervals to detect it in the pre diabetes stage itself. As diabetes doesn’t produce much symptoms, the detection is usually delayed. If you are diagnosed to have diabetes, it’s better to start medications to avoid complications. At the diagnosis itself, more than 50% of beta cells are destroyed and the treatment goal is to prevent further destructions. Delaying treatments will destruct more and more beta cells and may result in complications. Control of blood sugar in the first 10 years is extremely important as it will help in a metabolic memory which will help to avoid complications.
The sad fact is that as diabetes now affects more youngsters, it will affect the economy of our country. We can prevent this silent killer only by creating awareness from a young age itself about the importance of healthy food and regular exercise.