Preventing Type 2 ?..

[Jean]

The '2010 Annual Balance for Type 2 Diabetics' contains an article by the incoming chairman, Professor Sir George Alberti.

In it he says, 'we do know how to prevent Type 2 and we can?t get the message through'.

To avoid tearing this statement out of its context, you have to read the article through for clues as to how he believes Type 2 can be prevented.

I found a couple.

He writes of the need to lobby the government about 'the real preventive measures ? the food industry and leisure and the need for people to take exercise and be more physically active'.

Further on in the article he writes that the 'economically and socially excluded?get more Type 2 diabetes than anyone else'.

The inference seems to be that Type 2 can be prevented by

Diet

Exercise

Lifestyle

I cannot recall a thread on the subject of how we sufferers from Type 2 could have prevented our condition. Perhaps it?s time to start one?.

 

[Northerner]

I'm afraid that, despite my lack of medical training I have to disagree with the eminent Professor. I have a neighbour who was diagnosed with Type 2 just before Christmas. This man is slim, walks several miles a day, doesn't smoke or drink, has always eaten healthily and generally is in excellent health. He is in his late 60s, I think. The only thing that counts against him is that his mother also developed Type 2 diabetes quite late in life.

I'd like to introduce my neighbour to the prof so he can offer any explanation as to what else this man could have done to prevent his developing T2. I'd love to hear it. Chosen different birth parents, perhaps?

 

[margie]

Certain people are predisposed to getting type 2 and will get it at some stage. Maybe its more a case of delaying the onset of type2 rather than preventing it.

 

[sandy]

I would like to think that if I was not over weight then I would still have developed D - but I am not at all convinced - if the stats (and I know they can lie) say that overweight people are more likely to get D then weight would seem to be an issue. It is not the only issue though and losing weight *may* and probably will help (my opinion), it's not a guarantee though.

Interested to hear why you disagree Northerner

 

[Andy HB]

I think Margie is right.

Also, I mentioned in another thread an article in a recent New Scientist magazine which explained how diabetes can affect both 'thin' and 'fat' people. Basically, it's down to how the body copes with dietry fat.

Also, a person can be obese, but not have diabetes because their body can continue to deal with additional fat intake. The article explained that it isn't obesity itself which can cause diabetes (and other metabolic diseases). In fact, being obese is actually the body's way of 'protecting' itself from excess fat.

The article seems to correspond with this professor in that if people who have a natural disposition towards diabetes eat healthily, they can offset when diabetes starts to kick in. Perhaps that neighbour might have had diabetes much earlier if he'd not had such a good diet (we'll never know now!).

Andy

 

[Northerner]

I would like to think that if I was not over weight then I would still have developed D - but I am not at all convinced - if the stats (and I know they can lie) say that overweight people are more likely to get D then weight would seem to be an issue. It is not the only issue though and losing weight *may* and probably will help (my opinion), it's not a guarantee though.

Interested to hear why you disagree Northerner

I just disagree with the assertion that it is a 'lifestyle' disease. I would agree with margie that, if you have a predisposition to develop it, then a poor diet and inactivity may hasten its development - after all, many people can control their Type 2 on diet and exercise so may be unaware of it until this regime can no longer prevent levels climbing.

There is a theory that insulin resistance may actually be the reason that so many people are overweight on diagnosis (note that 20% are not - a significant minority). The theory is that the excessive insulin production from the pancreas in an effort to maintain BG levels despite the insulin resistance of the cells is what causes more of the glucose to be stored as fat, hence the person puts on weight due to the T2/IR, not the other way round.

 

[C*5_Dodger]

It's Genetic

I agree with margie, certain of us are predisposed to Type 2, lifestyle is the trigger that causes us to become diabetic. Being overweight and Type 2 are two facets of an underlying problem - Metabolic Syndrome (MetS). Its down to our genes which of these facets appears first.

Regards Dodger

 

[lyndasw]

A friend of mine, perfectly healthy went for her annual medical assessment just before Xmas (part of a private health insurance she has), and with both her parents and a grandparent suffering from type 2 she was told its not if she gets diabetes it's a question of when 😱

 

[Steff]

Can anyone explain if it is genetic like dodger says why am i the only one in my family that ever has been diagnosed with type 2? it is very uncommon to be the only type 2 in a family?

 

[lyndasw]

Steff I read somewhere that people can actually have the diabetic gene but never develop diabetes and this gene can then pass down the line and eventually someone will develop the disease. No idea how true that is as there is so much rubbish written about diabetes!!

 

[Andy HB]

Can anyone explain if it is genetic like dodger says why am i the only one in my family that ever has been diagnosed with type 2? it is very uncommon to be the only type 2 in a family?

My unscientific response would be that it isn't just genetic but also down to lifestyle (I differ with Northerner there!).

Also, you aren't genetically identical to your parents and so you may just have been unlucky and the gene which predisposed you to diabetes just happened to have been activated (or de-activated, which ever is applicable!).

Andy

 

[Andy HB]

Steff I read somewhere that people can actually have the diabetic gene but never develop diabetes and this gene can then pass down the line and eventually someone will develop the disease. No idea how true that is as there is so much rubbish written about diabetes!!

There's so much 'rubbish' in our DNA that it is a very difficult proposition to identify individual genes which cause this, that, or the other. Frequently, it is no one thing that causes disease.

I might even start thinking that we weren't purposefully designed!!

 

[Steff]

My unscientific response would be that it isn't just genetic but also down to lifestyle (I differ with Northerner there!).

Also, you aren't genetically identical to your parents and so you may just have been unlucky and the gene which predisposed you to diabetes just happened to have been activated (or de-activated, which ever is applicable!).

Andy

So it can just simply be i was unlucky then.Well no use thinking what ifs just gotta get on with it i guess.

 

[C*5_Dodger]

Can anyone explain if it is genetic like dodger says why am i the only one in my family that ever has been diagnosed with type 2? it is very uncommon to be the only type 2 in a family?

Dear Steff,

Read my post again -lifestyle is the trigger!

Warmest Regards Dodger

 

[Steff]

Dear Steff,

Read my post again -lifestyle is the trigger!

Warmest Regards Dodger

Sorry when i read you had titled the post its genetic i assumed you meant it was.

 

[Adrienne]

I had an argument with our old doctor. Note the use of the word 'old'.

He told me in the middle of a discussion that '.......when I get diabetes.....' I stopped him and said pardon and he repeated it. I told him that he obviously meant to say type 2 diabetes and he agreed. I also then told him that I may be overweight but it is not a guarantee that I will become type 2 diabetes. He said it most definitely was. I think he picked the wrong person to say that tooooo.

I told him that if it was in my make up to get type 2 diabetes then yes by being overweight I carry the risk of bringing it on earlier but if it was not in my make up then I may never get it.

He disagreed with me so I changed doctors within the same practice. I said the head honcho who wouldn't give me glucogel for Jessica unless I made an appointment. Again wrong person ! We went along and he asked why Jessica was having hypos. 😱 I told him it was because she was type 1 diabetic. He told he would have to check out her regime as it obviously wasn't working. Whoops. I told him I was under the best hospital in the UK, a National Clinic of Excellence and that they knew everything there was to know and did he know about insulin pumps. That stumped he, he had never seen one !

I wrote a long letter of complaint about how I don't think either of the docs should see any diabetic person, 1 or 2 until they had some training on the subject. I moved surgeries and whilst they are not brilliant they are a whole lot better.

Idiot docs. 😡

 

[Peter C]

I just disagree with the assertion that it is a 'lifestyle' disease. I would agree with margie that, if you have a predisposition to develop it, then a poor diet and inactivity may hasten its development - after all, many people can control their Type 2 on diet and exercise so may be unaware of it until this regime can no longer prevent levels climbing.

There is a theory that insulin resistance may actually be the reason that so many people are overweight on diagnosis (note that 20% are not - a significant minority). The theory is that the excessive insulin production from the pancreas in an effort to maintain BG levels despite the insulin resistance of the cells is what causes more of the glucose to be stored as fat, hence the person puts on weight due to the T2/IR, not the other way round.

To be fair to Alberti, Jean didn't say he called T2 a "lifestyle "disease. And he didn't claim that ALL t2 could be prevented or would be prevented by the measures he describes.
In your second paragraph you seem to be assuming that the fat stores are inert bystanders. They are not they are active playesr in the metabolic game, buubling away with activity. In particular the amount of fat, especially visceral fat around the middle, increases insulin restistance and a 10% drop in weight is well known to reduce IR and thus bgs. The guilty party in the fat layers that increases IR and the tendency to T2 is thought to be a substance dubbed "Resistin". So its a vicious circle - IR might well prompt the initial weight gain but then the fat takes over and takes the problem on to even greater Ir and eventually T2 diabetes. Yes you have to have the genes for it but you also need the triggers.
The experience of Third World countries points to the lifestyle triggers - t2 diabetes is rare in rural India but a major health problem in Indian cities. When the peasants move to city life its the urbanisation, industrialisation, stress, diet that gets them.
As for thin people getting T2, researcha couple of yeras ago showed many of them have internal fat layered around their major organs.

 

[Northerner]

Thanks for the clarification Peter.

 

[Peter C]

I had an argument with our old doctor. Note the use of the word 'old'.

He told me in the middle of a discussion that '.......when I get diabetes.....' I stopped him and said pardon and he repeated it. I told him that he obviously meant to say type 2 diabetes and he agreed. I also then told him that I may be overweight but it is not a guarantee that I will become type 2 diabetes. He said it most definitely was. I think he picked the wrong person to say that tooooo.
Idiot docs. 😡

Actually if a person has a child with diabetesthey are at slightly increased risk of diabete themselves. There is a well known reverse hereditary aspect to diabetes - a child is dxed with diabetes , the family says we have no trace of it , then some years later an aunt, uncle or parent of the child is dxed with it themselves.At a later stage a grandparent is dxed as well and then the genetic track becomes evident.
REverse hereditary is a fascinating aspect of diabetes, and well researched.

 

[Northerner]

Actually if you have a child with diabetes you are at slightly increased risk of diabetes yourself. There is a well known reverse hereditary aspect to diabetes - a child is dxed with diabetes , the family says we have no trace of it , then some years later an aunt, uncle or parent of the child is dxed with it themselves.At a later stage a grandparent is dxed as well and then the genetic track becomes evident.
REverse hereditary is a fascinating aspect of diabetes, and well researched.

Adrienne's daughter is a diabetic due to the removal of most of her pancreas at birth, so not through the normal causes.