Actually, it depends on the form of diabetes and the person involved. Here is some background:
Type 1 and Type 2 are drastically different conditions says Dr. Bruce Perkins an endocrinologist who teaches at University of Toronto. Perkins --- also a staff physician at University Health Network --- says the two forms of the disease have their own causes treatments and outcomes.
"A patient diagnosed with Type 1 --- their life depends on starting insulin immediately" says Perkins.
Type 2 diabetes on the other hand says Perkins is usually triggered by a sedentary lifestyle. In some cases the disease can be prevented thus the high profile campaigns to promote awareness about the disease.
Pediatric endocrinologist Dr. Heather Dean who has participated in diabetes research studies across the country is thrilled about increasing media coverage about Type 2 diabetes. Nevertheless she notes that people with Type 1 diabetes --- a relative minority --- are often misunderstood. "They have a silent voice" she says "somebody has to be a champion for their cause."
Dean considers herself that champion and wants people to realize that Type 1 diabetes is the most complicated form of the disease.
"What people need to know is that it is not preventable with lifestyle modification" says Dean.
She notes that many of her with Type 1 diabetes patients are bothered when people assume they developed diabetes by eating too much sugar being overweight or not exercising.
The reality: Type 1 diabetes is an unpreventable disorder in which the body does not produce insulin a hormone released by the pancreas. Insulin is needed to turn carbohydrates into energy. Find out more in our conditions library.
Most people with Type 1 diabetes are not overweight. In fact many are underweight when diagnosed with the disease due to complications of high blood sugar.
Most people with Type 1 diabetes develop the disease in childhood hence the term juvenile diabetes which was once used to describe the disease. (The term is no long accurate says Dean considering kids are now developing Type 2 diabetes. Until the mid 1980s she says Type 2 was an adult-only disease).
Type 1 diabetes is not caused by inactivity. Rather it is an autoimmune disease in which the body has mistakenly attacked and destroyed its own insulin-producing cells. Find out more in our conditions library.
Please also read "Diabetes 101":
www.healthycanada.com/index.php?option=c...etail&id=190
For more information do a search on "Diabetes" in the global search engine in the upper right hand corner and you'll find a ton of information.
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