-
Please Remember: Members are only permitted to share their own experiences. Members are not qualified to give medical advice. Additionally, everyone manages their health differently. Please be respectful of other people's opinions about their own diabetes management.
-
Learn more about joining the Diabetes UK Support Forum team here: https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/threads/volunteering-opportunities-why-dont-you-join-us.112862/
Latest research...
- Thread starter Caroline
- Start date
- Status
...A survey done in the 90s looking at the rates of breast cancer in the UK, found that women named "Barbara" were 3-times more likely to develop breast cancer...
Reason for this: Barbara was a very common female name chosen during the 50s and 60s!
Moral of the story: Be weary of how the media interpret research. There could all sorts of other factors that they have left out. It has not been "clinically proven".
Mo 🙂
Reason for this: Barbara was a very common female name chosen during the 50s and 60s!
Moral of the story: Be weary of how the media interpret research. There could all sorts of other factors that they have left out. It has not been "clinically proven".
Mo 🙂
Statistics can always be manipulated into whatever people want to hear! In France, there are supposedly low numbers of people dying from heart attacks, however, this is because if someone dies from a heart attack it is simply noted as 'natural causes' - so not really a true figure!
I dont know where they are getting these figures from regarding poor families and higher risk, but all the meetings and conferences i have been to regarding diabetes, i would say 99% of people there are well educated, professional, affluent middle/upper classes - not at all 'poor families'!
I came from quite a poor background and dont have diabetes, but Alex comes from a fairly affluent setting and he has type 1 - so how does that measure up against the statistics? I think any figures can be manipulated if people want to 'prove' a link.😱
In fact, DUK tell us that type 1 diabetes is thought of as a 'middle class' disease - simply because children from more well off families are less likely to sleep 5 to a bed or play out for hours on end with lots of children who have the capacity to pass on lots of illnesses etc, so the point being that their immune systems are not quite as challenged as that of a child who lives in poverty. Middle class children also tend to be more isolated from other children as they spend lots of time with family etc.
I dont actually know what the truth is about any of the above, because there are children being diagnosed from both rich and poor families - and i think it could become another 'myth' that either group has more/less diagnosed within their groups, and its not much of a comfort, even if it is proved, as you cant really do anything about how rich or poor your family is!😉
Bev
I dont know where they are getting these figures from regarding poor families and higher risk, but all the meetings and conferences i have been to regarding diabetes, i would say 99% of people there are well educated, professional, affluent middle/upper classes - not at all 'poor families'!
I came from quite a poor background and dont have diabetes, but Alex comes from a fairly affluent setting and he has type 1 - so how does that measure up against the statistics? I think any figures can be manipulated if people want to 'prove' a link.😱
In fact, DUK tell us that type 1 diabetes is thought of as a 'middle class' disease - simply because children from more well off families are less likely to sleep 5 to a bed or play out for hours on end with lots of children who have the capacity to pass on lots of illnesses etc, so the point being that their immune systems are not quite as challenged as that of a child who lives in poverty. Middle class children also tend to be more isolated from other children as they spend lots of time with family etc.
I dont actually know what the truth is about any of the above, because there are children being diagnosed from both rich and poor families - and i think it could become another 'myth' that either group has more/less diagnosed within their groups, and its not much of a comfort, even if it is proved, as you cant really do anything about how rich or poor your family is!😉
Bev
I think the article is talking more about type 2s (although as usual they just say 'diabetes'), the usual old chestnut that poor people are apparently fat and smoke and this increases their likelihood of diabetes. Also if poor people have diabetes they are apparently less likely to be aware of or access any support services and health checks available.
Recently I have heard of people going to the doctor and being turned down for things, not being allowed sufficient test strips etc. So it looks to me like kind of propaganda to hide the fact that these health checks are not available in deprived areas and doctors do not allow diabetics to properly monitor their condition by checking blood sugars, and instead blaming the people themselves for being poor and having bad diets and smoking.
The chief executive of DUK is quoted as saying more money should be spent labelling packets which I think is silly. I think it would be better if that money was spent providing proper sports centres, for example, or ensuring fruit and veg was reasonably priced. I think the government is spending money in all the wrong areas on advertising and labelling and not on practical measures that might actually change something.
Recently I have heard of people going to the doctor and being turned down for things, not being allowed sufficient test strips etc. So it looks to me like kind of propaganda to hide the fact that these health checks are not available in deprived areas and doctors do not allow diabetics to properly monitor their condition by checking blood sugars, and instead blaming the people themselves for being poor and having bad diets and smoking.
The chief executive of DUK is quoted as saying more money should be spent labelling packets which I think is silly. I think it would be better if that money was spent providing proper sports centres, for example, or ensuring fruit and veg was reasonably priced. I think the government is spending money in all the wrong areas on advertising and labelling and not on practical measures that might actually change something.
Proudspirit
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
i wouldn't say that i was rich nor poor, i buy the best quality products that i can afford, never buy ready meals, cook from scratch, eat red meat once or twice a week, eat veg, although not a fruit lover.. Dont smoke either but i am still overweight and have diabetes..
You can be rich and eat convenience foods!
You can be rich and eat convenience foods!
Einstein
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Regarding food labels etc, if this national curriculum actually had space in it to teach proper life skills then we?d be seeing a healthier nation developing. Namely cookery being compulsory for all 11-14 year olds, not making cakes, but teaching about content of food, the ingredients and what is a balanced diet.
I could cook before doing cookery at school, my grandmother was a superb cook and I loved to work in the kitchen with her, learning to cook by what felt right e.g. feel!
But even the reading if a simple recipe by a lot of school leavers is a challenge, some consider themselves accomplished if they can ?cook? baked beans on toast!
I?m not knocking the students, but because cookery/home economics or whatever you wish to call it was so 50?s/60?s and 70?s there are youngsters leaving without the slightest idea of good food from bad and not knowing what real food tastes like, not a sauce from a packet or a ready meal, something someone prepared from ingredients in the cupboard and that tastes slightly different each time they cook it.
Ho humm? I?m off my soap box 😉
I could cook before doing cookery at school, my grandmother was a superb cook and I loved to work in the kitchen with her, learning to cook by what felt right e.g. feel!
But even the reading if a simple recipe by a lot of school leavers is a challenge, some consider themselves accomplished if they can ?cook? baked beans on toast!
I?m not knocking the students, but because cookery/home economics or whatever you wish to call it was so 50?s/60?s and 70?s there are youngsters leaving without the slightest idea of good food from bad and not knowing what real food tastes like, not a sauce from a packet or a ready meal, something someone prepared from ingredients in the cupboard and that tastes slightly different each time they cook it.
Ho humm? I?m off my soap box 😉
Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
When I was a student I could already cook as both my parents worked and I'd often made my own meals as a teenager. However, when I was sharing a house in my student years, one of the guys (ex-boarder public school) nearly burned the place down by putting a can of beans in the oven to cook - bad enough, but he didn't pierce the can either. You can probably guess what happened to the oven! I told him that you just cook beans in a pan, so next time I found him putting the can in a pan of water, again without even piercing the can! Why on earth he didn't just open the can and pour out the beans into the pan, I have no idea - and this was someone studying for a degree!!!😱
Good grief, Northerner, what a story! It's one of my real bug-bears, helping both my kids learn to cook (and clean, but that's another story!). This is not because I think my cooking is great shakes -- couldn't be further from the truth actually, I don't cook much at all, and can't and don't enjoy it -- BUT my husband does all the cooking, and loves it and my children love home cooked food. I really miss not having learned or been 'turned onto' good food earlier, so want it for my kids...
re links to developing diabetes, there are so many it's hard to name them all: birthweight, consumption of dairy, living in Northerly countries... Regardless of all of these there does seem a general agreement that there is a genetic propensity for type 1 anyway (type 1 and type 2 have no overlap in genes, apparently!) -- and that other factors may help bring this propensity to fruition as it were. But also, it's clear that any link is just that -- not a determinant, just a 'grouping' of things in common. Which means there are plenty of people with diabetes well outside any one grouping...
Confusing, sorry. Cup of tea time...
re links to developing diabetes, there are so many it's hard to name them all: birthweight, consumption of dairy, living in Northerly countries... Regardless of all of these there does seem a general agreement that there is a genetic propensity for type 1 anyway (type 1 and type 2 have no overlap in genes, apparently!) -- and that other factors may help bring this propensity to fruition as it were. But also, it's clear that any link is just that -- not a determinant, just a 'grouping' of things in common. Which means there are plenty of people with diabetes well outside any one grouping...
Confusing, sorry. Cup of tea time...
David, I agree completely. I did GCSE 'Food Technology' and we learned to make a ready meal and a pizza, and we learned about how McDonalds make every meal identical. No element of healthy eating or how to cook for yourself. It would have been so much better if they taught us how to make things like shepherds pie, lasagna, proper meals, maybe something about what basic kitchen equipment we might need, how to shop to a budget and still eat healthily, things like that. The budgeting could link up with maths lessons, and the healthy eating could connect to PE and science as well, so the different subjects linked up. This would give children an idea of the bigger picture and how school subjects relate to real life.
I think that the problem lies in confidence. A lot of stuff in recipes is implied, school needs to teach basics so children know for example what a finely chopped onion looks like or how to prepare vegetables before cooking them.
I think that the problem lies in confidence. A lot of stuff in recipes is implied, school needs to teach basics so children know for example what a finely chopped onion looks like or how to prepare vegetables before cooking them.
- Status