People think diabetes is only synonymous with obese people.
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA — People often assume that if they are not at risk diabetes if not overweight. That view developed in large part because of the prevalence type 2 diabetes directly related to body weight.
As you gain weight, your risk of developing type 2 diabetes also increases. However, diabetes is not always related to your appearance. Although which but have insulin resistance, your blood sugar can increase.
Quoted from the page The Indian ExpressChair and Head of Endocrinology and Diabetes, Max Healthcare, explains that some people may feel healthy if their Body Mass Index (BMI) is below 25. However, scales can provide a false sense of security.
Individuals of normal weight but with an increased proportion of body fat and low muscle mass often develop insulin resistance. They are both at risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
An important trigger of diabetes is a lack of physical activity. Many people spend all day in front of the computer or television and few do exercise.
Low physical activity results in low muscle mass (also called sarcopenia) and insulin resistance even in lean individuals. Such lean individuals, who have low muscle mass and a high proportion of body fat, experience the same metabolic effects as those who are obese (metabolic obesity).
Sometimes, muscle mass is more important than waist circumference. So, measuring the waist to hip ratio is important.
Those with high visceral fat and cholesterol are also susceptible. If there is a family history of diabetes, this risk increases exponentially.
Such patients are usually managed with oral anti-diabetic drugs initially. They may need insulin earlier in the course of their disease than overweight or obese type 2 diabetic patients.
Adults can also get other types of diabetes. Type 1 diabetes, which is characterized by severe insulin deficiency has traditionally been thought to occur mainly in children.
This type of diabetes is also called insulin dependent diabetes because patients need insulin for treatment from the moment they are diagnosed. This happens due to an autoimmune reaction in their body in which they develop antibodies against their pancreatic cells.
The patient showed weight loss, increased urination and thirst and other classic symptoms of diabetes. Sometimes, this type of diabetes develops slowly and disguises itself as type 2 diabetes in its early stages. This form of type 1 diabetes that develops slowly in adults is called latent autoimmune diabetes of adults (LADA).
