How do you get diabetes?
The answer to the questions how do you get diabetes is a bit more complicated than you may imagine. Most people simplify diabetes way too much by associating physical appearances with diabetes. If they see a rather heavy person, they automatically assume that person will develop diabetes. Not only do they neglect to acknowledge that diabetics can be athletic or thin, but they seem to forget that there are other versions that affect children and pregnant women.
Genetics can play a role
Some families are genetically predisposed to develop Type 1 or type 2. Some members may have the genetic predisposition, yet they never develop symptoms due to their personal environments and habits. So a cousin who has the same genes as another cousin (or siblings for that matter) may have a lifestyle that is more sedentary and chooses to eat processed sugary foods may develop the inherited condition verses the health nut cousin who is always on the go. Also, the reverse can happen. Many large people do not become diabetic, while some really athletic people will. It’s in the genes, after all.
The differences between Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes
Type 1 happens when the pancreas is lacking the beta cells that convert sugar we eat into insulin that is used to carry energy to the cells. Type 2 happens when a person’s body does not produce enough insulin or the body cannot use what is produced adequately.
Type 1 tends can happen at any age but usually happens to younger people under the age of 21, more white people than black, and equally between males and females. Type 2 also happens at any time in a person’s life, but is more likely to occur among adults over the age of 45 who are overweight or obese. They may have been pre-diabetic before onset. They may have lower HDL cholesterol and higher triglycerides and higher blood pressure than average.
Treatment for Type 1 involves dietary control of glucose, exercise, and injection of insulin after careful monitoring of levels. Type 2 can usually be treated with oral medications and diet as well. Management is the key for both conditions.
Gestational Diabetes
Pregnant women may develop diabetic symptoms during the course of pregnancy. High blood sugar along with the body’s need to care for two humans can cause stress to the body that can increase insulin output. Usually a urinalysis will find higher amounts of ketones and glucose. Although this version of diabetes tends to go away after the pregnancy, it can occur with subsequent pregnancies and it can essentially lead to pre-diabetes. Diabetes tends to be a progressive condition that can lead to Type 2.
As you can see there is no one type who will get diabetes for sure. Type-1 one has no screening test for it, and Type-2 is usually only discovered when the patient feels poorly enough to seek a doctor’s care and the doctor tests for it. No one is immune to diabetes, either. Since there is not one type who can get it, there is not one type who can definitely avoid it either.