KITCHEN

Are you risk of diabetes?

 

Statistics released from diabeties.org.uk show that in 2012 382 million people were suffering from diabetes in the UK and it was estimated that 10% of these people have type one diabetes, that’s 38.2 million people.

 

This number is expected to rise to 592 million by 2030, yet most people do not know what diabetes is, how it is caused and how to treat it.

 

Here at Kitchen our own editor, Chloe Stubbings, who has had type one diabetes for 13 years decided to conduct her own investigation into what our readers really know about type one diabetes.

 

Mavis Jarver, 73, London, is a type two diabetic, when asked if she knew the difference between the two types, she said, “I was diagnosed as type two around 15 years ago, and they told me I would eventually need to take injections, so I was under the impression that once I start taking insulin injections I am a type one.”

 

“The difference between type one diabetes and type two diabetes is quite simple, type one                 diabetes is an auto-immune illness, the cause of which is unknown, although many                           practitioners believe it is a virus that some children will get, which later develops into type                   one diabetes. It is important to remember a type one diabetic will never produce any insulin                   by themselves, and although this eventually can be the case with type two diabetics’ aswell,         because the cause is different, they are two very different conditions” explained Professor             Graham Hitman, a diabetes consultant.”

 

 

Type two diabetes can have a variety of causes, including old age and being overweight, and is usually treated with daily tablets/medication.

 

Because people do not know much about diabetes they are often unaware of the symptoms of the condition, often leading to very dangerous situations.

 

Some of the things to look out for are, dehydration, tiredness, aches and pains, abdominal pain, urinating frequently and visibly looking unwell, although not all of these will be frequent.

 

Once diagnosed diabetes can be managed and people can live a healthy life, as proven by many celebrities who have type one, such as Southend united defender Ben Coker, X-factor contestant and singer Amelia Lily and actress Elinor Crawley, who all now support diabetes UK and have become role models for many children across the country.

 

For any help and support if you or anybody close to you is suffering from type one or type two diabetes you can contact diabetes UK through their website or by clicking here and going to their contact us page.