Diabetes

Leslie-Ann Halls
Mikayla George
Krislon Sonny
Cherine Joseph
Jeaneil Albert

CHAPTER
THREE (3)

Type One (1) &

Two (2)

Type One (1) Diabetes

Type 1 diabetes, which used to be called juvenile diabetes, develops mostly in young individuals,
however it can also develop in adults. In type 1 diabetes, the body makes insufficient or no
insulin because the bodys immune system which normally protects the body from infection by
getting rid of bacteria, viruses, and other harmful substances, has attacked and destroyed the cells
that make insulin.

Type Two (2) Diabetes

Type 2 diabetes, which used to be called adult-onset diabetes, can affect people at any age, even
children. However, type 2 diabetes develops most often in middle-aged and older people. People
who are overweight and inactive are also more likely to develop type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes
usually begins with insulin resistance which is a condition that occurs when fat, muscle, and liver
cells do not use insulin to carry glucose into the bodys cells to use for energy. As a result, the
body needs more insulin to help glucose enter cells. At first, the pancreas keeps up with the
added demand by making more insulin. Over time, the pancreas doesnt make enough insulin
when blood sugar levels increase, such as after meals.

Difference Between Type One (1) & Type Two (2)

Type One (1) Diabetes Type Two (2) Diabetes

Causes

Beta cells in pancreas are

Persistently high intakes of
attacked by the body's own
dietary sugars leads to excess
immune system, therefore
demands on insulin production,
reducing insulin production,
which leads to insulin
leading to elevated blood
resistance over time. Receptor
glucose. Insulin is not produced cells that have become resistant
or is produced in insufficient to insulin are unable to remove
amounts.
glucose from the blood, leading
to higher blood glucose and
greater demands on insulin
production.

Cause Factors

1.

Genetic

Genetic

2.

Environmental

Obesity

3.

Autoimmune factors

Physical inactivity

4.

Idiopathic

Gestational diabetes
mellitus

Poor placental growth

Metabolic syndrome

Signs & Symptoms

Frequent urinating

Rapid weight loss

Frequent urinating

Constant hunger and

thirst

Rapid weight loss

Constant hunger and

thirst

Extreme weakness and

fatigue

Nausea

4
5

Extreme weakness and

fatigue
Nausea

Treatment

Vomiting

Vomiting

Irritability

Irritability,

Blurred vision,

Excessive itching

10

Skin infections

11

Dry itchy skin

12

Slowly healing sores

13

Numb hands and feet

Insulin injections

Healthy food choices

Exercise

Exercise

Dietary modifications

Controlling blood
pressure and cholesterol 4
levels

Self-Monitoring of
Blood Glucose

Controlling blood
pressure and cholesterol
levels
Insulin treatment

Effects of fats on the cardiovascular system

The function of cardiovascular system is for delivering blood and oxygen to all areas of the body.
The cardiovascular system consists of the heart, lungs and blood vessels. Any problem of disease
associated with this system can lead to a variety of symptoms and serious illnesses. One must
watch their fat intake because too much fat can have negative effects on the cardiovascular
system. Exercising regularly and eating a healthy diet can help keep the system strong and
working at its best.
In the cardiovascular system, the heart muscle is basically a pump that circulates blood
throughout the body. Blood vessels called arteries deliver blood and oxygen that is pumped away
from the heart to the body. Arteries deliver the blood to smaller vessels called arterioles, which
then branch into capillaries. After the oxygen is delivered to the cells, the blood enters the
venules, which eventually link to veins. Veins are the blood vessels that carry the oxygen-poor
blood back to the heart. To maintain good health, the heart muscle and all of the blood vessels
need to be able to do their job.
Common diseases that can affect the cardiovascular system include coronary heart disease,
atherosclerosis, high blood pressure and heart failure. Coronary heart disease (CHD) is
a disease in which a waxy substance called plaque builds up inside the coronary arteries. These
arteries supply oxygen-rich blood to your heart muscle. When plaque builds up in the arteries,
the condition is called atherosclerosis. The buildup of plaque occurs over many years. These
diseases can limit the amount of blood and oxygen that get to the heart and brain, and this may
lead to a heart attack or stroke. While age, genetics, gender and ethnicity can all play a role in the

development of diseases of the cardiovascular system, they can also be caused by too much fat in
the body.
All fats are not created equal. Some are clearly harmful to the cardiovascular system, while
others may actually be good for it. Fats cannot be dissolved in water, so they must travel through
the body with the help of carriers called lipoproteins. Low-density lipoproteins (LDLs) help the
body store and transport cholesterol and fats. High-density lipoproteins (HDLs) help the body get
rid of cholesterol and fats. Therefore, LDLs are considered the bad as they can allow fats to build
to a high level in the body. HDLs are considered good because they help to keep fat levels low
and can help to protect the cardiovascular system. The goal is to lower LDL levels and raise
HDL levels.
Too much fat in the diet can cause atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is a condition where plaque
comprised of fat, cholesterol and other substances builds up along the blood vessel walls. This
makes the blood vessels hard and narrow and restricts the amount of blood and oxygen that can
flow through them. Over time, this can limit the supply to the heart and brain and cause a heart
attack or stroke. Atherosclerosis can exist without warning and a heart attack or stroke may be
the first sign of its presence. However, as the blood vessels are affected and become narrower,
blood pressure will rise. Blood pressure and cholesterol levels should be checked often to catch
problems before symptoms occur.

Benefits of maintaining a physically fit body

Muscles: glucose and ATP is used for contraction and movement. To create more ATP the body
needs extra oxygen, so breathing increases and your heart starts pumping more blood to your
muscles.
Without sufficient oxygen, lactic acid will form instead. Tiny tears in your muscles make them
grow bigger and stronger as they heal.
Lungs. As your muscles call for more oxygen the breathing rate increases. Once the muscles
surrounding your lungs cannot move any faster, you've reached what's called your VO2 max
your maximum capacity of oxygen use. The higher your VO2 max, the fitter you are.
Heart. The heart rate increases with physical activity to supply more oxygenated blood to the
muscles. The fitter you are, the more efficiently your heart can do this, allowing you to work out
longer and harder. As a side effect, this increased efficiency will also reduce your resting heart
rate. Your blood pressure will also decrease as a result of new blood vessels forming.
Brain: The increased blood flow also benefits your brain, allowing it to function better. As a
result, you tend to feel more focused after a workout. Furthermore, exercising regularly will
promote the growth of new brain cells.
A number of neurotransmitters are also triggered, such as endorphins, serotonin, dopamine,
glutamate, and GABA. Some of these are well-known for their role in mood control. Exercise, in
fact, is one of the most effective prevention and treatment strategies for depression.

Joints and bones: as exercise can place as much as five or six times more than your body weight
on them. Peak bone mass is achieved in adulthood and then begins a slow decline, but exercise
can help you to maintain healthy bone mass as you get older.
Weight-bearing exercise is actually one of the most effective remedies against osteoporosis, as
your bones are very porous and soft, and as you get older your bones can easily become less
dense and hence, more brittle especially if you are inactive.

Consequences of exercise on the body

Exercise has the ability to improve the body's cardiovascular, nervous, muscular, and endocrine
systems. Exercise increases the demands on your body and, as a result there is an increase in
muscle tissue, vascular networks, neural connections, and efficiency.
Exercise enhances your nervous system by creating new neural pathways resulting from the
novel and increased communication between your central nervous system and muscles. Better
coordination often results from these new connections.
Exercise creates positive changes in hormone production. Regulation of hormones such as
testosterone, insulin, and growth hormone, help maintain the unity of muscle, bone, and
connective tissue.

Incidence and Mortality rate in St.lucia

standardized
standardized
Trends in age-standardized prevalence of diabetes

Trend in age standardized prevalence of diabetes

35%

30%

Percentage
25%
(%)
20%

15%

10%

5%

males
0%

females

Prevalence of diabetes and related risk factors

Males

Females

Total

Diabetes

13.7%

15.5%

14.6%

Overweight

51.0%

63.6%

57.4%

Obesity

19.7%

34.0%

27.0%

Physical inactivity

27.8%

54.5%

41.5%

The graph above represents the trend of prevelance of diabetes in St.lucia. It is seen, in the
early years of the 1980s - 1990, the prevelance of diabetes was at a low at 15% with only slight
increases . But from 1990 onwards the prevelance of diabetes increased singnificantly during

the 21th century, reaching at 22.5% in the recent year of 2014. This data from the graph shows
diabetes mellitus is one of the major health problems in St.lucia which adversely affects both the
quality and length of life. In the early 1980s, during the years of our grandparents, a healthy
lifestyle was practiced. The consumption of more healthy food were in their diet such as yam,
dasheen ,plantain ,peas ,vegetables. However in our current society, people eat very little of these
healthy,naturally grown produce. Instead they eat a lot of processed and canned food commonly
known as fast foods, soft drinks, corn curls,sugared snacks and other products that taste very nice
but contribute immensely to the high rates of diabetes in St.Lucia today. Also in those days there
were less transportation, and and all those sophisticated machines that made living easier. As a
result, people in the past were more invloved in exercising as they used to walk longer
distances, and were working a lot harder on their farms as part of their daily lives.In the table
above on the prevalence of diabetes and the risk factors, physical inactivity can be directly linked
as one of the major contributing factors to diabetes. As it is seen in the table above a total of
41.5% of the population is physically inactivity while diabetes is recorded to be 14.6%. Since
physical inability is a risk factor of diabetes it can be said that as levels of physical inactivity
increases in St.lucia, the levels of diabetes also increases. Physical inactivity contributes to
obesity which is also another factor that causes diabetes in St.Lucia. The total percentage of
obesity is seen to be 27%. Therefore as obesity increases, it results in an increase in diabetes.
Moreover, being overweight is another risk factor of diabetes in St. Lucia.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated the worldwide prevalence of diabetes in
adults to be around 173 million in 2002 and predicted that there will be at least 350 million
people with Type 2 diabetes by 2030. At present about two-thirds of persons with diabetes live in
developing countries and the majority of new cases will originate from these areas. The global

increase in the incidence of diabetes is related to high levels of obesity associated with a change
from traditional diets, diminishing levels of physical activity, population ageing and increasing
urbanization.
Diabetes more often affects people of lower socio-economic status who carry a greater disease
burden for many reasons including limited access to or utilization of health care, poor
nutrition,and sub-optimal physical activity. The disease also places a heavy economic burden on
already limited health care resources in the Caribbean. Costs are related directly to treatment of
the disease and its complications, and indirectly to loss of earning power in those affected.
Because of the immense pressure that the increases in diabetes has been posing on the health
section in addition to the already limitd health care resources, it is only true to say the it would be
very difficult to reduce the high rate of diabetes in St.Lucia as seen with the growing increase
annually on the graph above.
However, the prevalence of diabetes can be curbed by sensitizing the public more on the effects
of diabetes on ones health as well as the countrys economy. People worldwide including
St.Lucians should become more physical active, eat healtier foods, maintain a health body
weight as well as improve the health care sector of the country as various means of reducing
diabetes and its adverse effects in the Caribbean and by extension, worldwide.

References
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https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/diabetes/types

What Happens in Your Body When You Exercise?. (2016). Mercola.com. Retrieved 17 November
2016, from http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2013/09/20/exercise-healthbenefits.aspx

Newell, L. & Newell, L. (2016). The Effects of Excess Fats on the Cardiovascular System.
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www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/type-2-diabetes/in-depth/diabetes-prevention/art20047639

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/diabetes-prevention/preventing-diabetes-fullstory/
m.ije.oxfordjournals.org/content/31/1/234.fll

Hennis, A. Drs, Maynard; G. etal (2006). Managing Diabetes in St.lucia. Retrived November
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