Diabetes is a metabolic disease in which the blood glucose, or sugar, levels
are too high. Recognizing the causes and risk factors for Diabetes can help us
have a clear understanding of the disease so as to treat it correspondingly.
Causes and risk factors for Diabetes includes two aspects: biological and
personal factors and health behaviours.
1. Biological and personal factors:
* Overweight and obesity, especially central obesity (accumulated fat around
the waist), are the strongest risk factors for Diabbetes. Take Netherlands for
example, 66% of people newly diagnosed with Diabetes are attributable to
overweight or obesity.
* Genetic factor. Certain genes are at higher risk for developing Diabetes.
This condition can be more commonly seen in Type 2 Diabetes.
* Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM). For children whose mothers are with
Diabetes have a higher risk for Type 2 Diabetes.
* Prediabetes. This including persons with Impaired Glucose Tolerance (IGT)
and Impaired Fasting Glucose (IFG) have concentrations of blood glucose above
the normal range.
2. Health behaviours:
* Unhealthy dietary habits. This includes a high fat and saturated fatty acid
diet which may result in IGT, higher fasting glucose concentration and elevated
insulin levels.
* Smoking can increase your risk for Diabetes.
* Sedentary lifestyle. In this case, people are more prone to develop Type 2
Diabetes.
No matter what causes Diabetes, we had better take effective treatment in
time, because long-standing Diabetes will lead to serious problems such as eyes,
kidneys, and nerves. It can even cause heart disease, stroke and so forth. You
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