Diabetes often linked with obesity
Sept.
27, 2002
All my life, I thought my maternal grandmother, Alice Kahler, died from diabetes.
At Wednesday's Choose to Move meeting, I learned that wasn't true.
Diane Butler, a registered nurse with Blue Cross Blue Shield, said people can't die from diabetes. Rather, they die from the complications caused by the disease.
After the meeting, I went to my parents' house to see what they had for dinner, and I asked my mom about what happened to the grandmother I never really knew. She died at age 64 when I was very young.
My mom said my grandma died from heart failure -- a complication from diabetes.
According to the American Heart Association's Web site, (www.americanheart.org/diabetes) diabetes is the body's inability to produce or respond properly to the hormone insulin. The body needs insulin to convert glucose (blood sugar) into energy. Normal blood sugar levels are 80 to 120. You should begin to worry if you've been tested at 126 or more on two occasions, the site said.
Diabetes comes in two forms, according to the Heart Association: Type I and Type II. Type I typically begins early in life and those who have it must take insulin to stay alive. Type II -- the most common form -- usually appears in middle-age adults. This type often is linked with obesity and may be controlled with diet and exercise.
Symptoms for diabetes include increased thirst and appetite and sores that don't heal quickly, Butler said.
People with diabetes are at a higher risk for heart disease, she said. Many doctors, as a precaution, are treating the 17 million Americans with diabetes as though they already have heart disease.
Doctors also are treating cholesterol levels and blood pressure more aggressively. Patients with diabetes should have a cholesterol level of less than 150, Butler said. Normally, people are safe at less than 200. When checking your blood pressure, 130/80 is considered high if you have diabetes, while others are at risk when they reach 140/80.
Once diagnosed with the disease, you can cut your risk of heart disease by not smoking, lowering your cholesterol and blood pressure and by keeping tight control on your blood sugar. Butler, who walks with her 12-year-old son who has Type I diabetes, said exercise is important to control the disease.
Because more American children are obese, more of them also are becoming Type II diabetics, Butler said. That's just one more reason for all of us to exercise. Maybe we need to set a better example for children.
One of my reasons for trying to live a healthier lifestyle is to avoid diseases linked to being overweight. So far, I've been lucky. But in case my luck doesn't hold out, I'll keep walking and find other ways to stay active.
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