Diabetes: Keep Blood Sugar Levels Low

Science has not yet found a way to prevent type 1 diabetes, which is the form that generally strikes children and young adults. It is caused when the body’s own immune system attacks cells that produce the hormone insulin. Type 1 diabetics require daily insulin injections to live.

Research has found that by keeping blood sugars as low as possible as soon as type 1 diabetes is diagnosed, the risk of long-term complications such as heart disease and nerve damage can be reduced. And scientists continue to look for ways to prevent the destruction of insulin-producing cells to slow progress of the disease.

Type 2 diabetes, on the other hand, usually occurs in middle age or in older adults. Doctors say it is possible to postpone the disease in many people, or even to prevent it. Type 2 diabetes, which affects about 90% of the more than 18 million Americans with diabetes, results from the body’s inability to use insulin efficiently or to make enough of it to keep blood sugar levels from rising, creating a condition that can lead to long-term complications. It tends to run in families, but obesity and inactivity hasten its development. Studies say people at risk of type 2 diabetes should:

*Lose weight. People who have a body mass index of 25 or higher are considered overweight. Losing 5% to 7% of your body weight reduces your risk of type 2 diabetes.

*Exercise. At least half an hour a day of walking five days a week can make a difference.

Studies have found that treatment with medications to increase insulin sensitivity or to lower blood sugar levels might slow the progression of diabetes in people with elevated blood sugar, but the evidence so far shows the combination of weight loss and exercise is about twice as effective.

Source: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases at the National Institutes of Health