Diabetes: What are the causes?
According to the definition of the German Federal Ministry of Health, diabetes mellitus (diabetes) is the most common metabolic disorder. Due to the frequency of occurrence of this disease in Western industrialized nations, international health organizations have been speaking of an epidemic for years. In Germany, about 7.2 percent of all adults between the ages of 18 and 79 are currently affected by diabetes. This high proportion of documented cases prompted the German Federal Ministry of Health to provide additional financial resources to improve diagnostics and therapy in the long term and to conduct research. To this end, the Ministry of Health is working closely with the German Center for Diabetes Research, whose results are available to clinics and physicians in private practice.
Increased in Western industrialized nations
As with all diseases, there are also reasons and triggers for diabetes and its various forms. The fact that diabetes is increasingly occurring in Western industrialized nations suggests that the causes of a possible disease are closely interwoven with "our way of life". Indeed, risk factors for this disease read like a cautionary warning for a healthy lifestyle.
Type 1 diabetes: an unsolved mystery
In all this zeal, it should not be forgotten that diabetes occurs in different forms and that the so-called type 1 often begins in childhood. This type of the disease is caused by a genetically determined failure of the cells of the pancreas. In a healthy person, the pancreas produces the hormone insulin. In the case of disease, the pancreas will not be able to supply the insulin required by the body. The disease is not "curable" and the sick person will have to inject insulin via an uncomplicated injection for the rest of his life.
In diabetes type 1, the exact causes or conditions responsible for this dysfunction are as yet unknown and scientifically unclear. However, diabetes thus joins other genetic disease patterns that cannot be explained or predicted.
Type 2 diabetes: Lack of exercise & obesity as causes
The cards are dealt quite differently in the case of type 2 diabetes. This is not a genetic, God-given, inevitable disease, but a clinical picture in which the sensitivity of the body's cells has been so severely reduced over the course of many years that the body is unable to keep up with its own production due to such "overproduction". This disease does not happen "overnight", but builds up insidiously. In specialist publications, lack of exercise and obesity are cited as the most important causes of type 2 diabetes. Here the circle to our "western industrial nations" may close, in which overweight and lack of movement are also on the agenda of other complaints and life models. So a healthy diet with sufficient exercise will significantly reduce the risk factor of possibly developing diabetes type-2.
Like diabetes type-1, type-2 is not considered "curable." The disease is only kept "in check" by means of medication prescribed by a doctor. While type 1 patients must constantly "top up" with insulin, type 2 patients are given drugs that prevent or reduce "hyperglycemia" of the blood. This therapy also continues for patients until the end of their lives.
Hormonal abnormalities as a problem
In addition to these two "main types" of diabetes mellitus disease, there are also immediate deviations that are not due to genetics or unhealthy lifestyle choices. If the body is in a "hormonal state of emergency", such as puberty, pregnancy or menopause, irregularities in the insulin balance can occur for a short time, which then trigger or temporarily promote the disease. Provided that the disease process is able to regulate such temporary overproduction or underproduction again, the body will also be able to restore the "normal state" on its own.
In such a case, one cannot actually speak of a direct diabetes disease, but rather of "short-term deviating values". In order not to promote or actually trigger a chronic disease, medical care is indispensable in such phases.
In the case of pregnant women, such a risk is largely ruled out by regular preventive medical checkups, and even older people will not be completely unaware of a regular visit to the family doctor. Things are different for young people who "otherwise" enjoy excellent health.
Something has already happened...
Diabetes and prevention are not rocket science. Unless you suffer from a genetic defect, you have seen or heard all the admonishing fingers before. Healthy eating and exercise have not been foreign words in our society for a long time. In fact, "body awareness" among the population has improved dramatically over the past forty years - if not turned around 180 degrees. Whereas sport in earlier years was almost exclusively a competitive activity, today "exercise" is often seen as an experience and a way of life. It's the same with our food. An office worker will have a completely different food requirement this year than a construction worker after the end of the war. Now, however, we don't cook for a horde of farm workers either, but adapt our food to the calorie requirements as much as possible.
If you have any doubts or concerns, don't neglect to ask your family doctor about diabetes at your next visit. A family doctor knows his patients and will certainly be able to assess concerns or worries correctly right away.
