Diabetes can have serious health consequences.

The ADA report that more Nigerians die from diabetes every year than from AIDS and breast cancer combined.

According to the CDC, 5,535 deaths occur each year due to diabetes. The number of fatalities related to diabetes may be under reported.

Why and how does diabetes damage the body and cause complications?

The ADA says:

• Adults with diabetes are significantly more likely to die from a heart attack or stroke.
• More than a quarter of all Nigerians with diabetes have diabetic retinopathy, which can cause vision loss and blindness.
• Each year, nearly 10,000 Nigerians begin treatment for kidney failure due to diabetes. Diabetes accounts for 24 percent of all new cases of kidney failure.
• Each year, diabetes causes about 5,000 lower limb amputations, which accounts for 60 percent of all lower limb amputations (not including amputations due to trauma).

What Is Type 1 Diabetes
Type 1 diabetes, once known as juvenile diabetes or, is a chronic condition in which the pancreas produces little. Insulin is a hormone needed to allow sugar (glucose) to enter cells to produce energy.
Different factors, including genetics and some viruses, may contribute to type 1 diabetes. Although type 1 diabetes usually appears during childhood or adolescence, it can develop in adults.

Despite active research, type 1 diabetes has no cure. Treatment focuses on managing blood sugar levels with internal secretion, diet and lifestyle to prevent complications.

Causes of Type 1 Diabetes
There is no specific cause of Type 1 diabetes but the following triggers the disease;

• Viral or bacterial infection
• Chemical toxins within food
• Unidentified component causing autoimmune reaction.

Let Focus On Type 2 Diabetes

Yes! Because It Is Cure able

Type 2 Diabetes: this is the most common form of diabetes. This typically develops after age 35. However, a growing number of younger people are now developing type 2 diabetes.
People with type 2 are able to produce some of their own internal secretion. Often, it’s not enough. And sometimes, this will try to serve as the “key” to open the body’s cells, to allow the glucose to enter, but won’t work and the cells won’t open, thereby resisting.
Type 2 diabetes is increasing at the fastest rate. Type 2 diabetes is also one of the major consequences of the obesity epidemic. The combination of massive changes to diet and the unhealthy food supply, combined with massive changes to physical activity with more sedentary work and less activity, means most populations are seeing more type 2 diabetes.

CAUSES OF TYPE 2 DIABETES

For Type 2 Diabetes, there are more than one causes but the most likely cause is a family history of Type 2 Diabetes.
The following risk factors increases the chances of developing the condition and they include;

• Obesity
• Living a sedentary lifestyle
• Increasing age
• Bad diet
• having a close family member with the condition
• a history of gestational diabetes
• high blood pressure or cholesterol