World Diabetes Day 2022: Causes, complications, and lifestyle changes you can make to avoid it and improve you

Diabetes in children has risen due to the unhealthy food and lifestyle choices we have made in the past few years. The pandemic has also contributed t many kids being restricted at home and couldn't go outside to play. Rising screen time and increasing study load could be other factors in the rise of diabetes among children making them more passive than before. Diabetes in kids can cause many complications and is life-threatening, requiring hospitalisation. Introducing the right lifestyle changes to control their blood sugar levels is imperative. 

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Causes of diabetes in children: Type 1 diabetes: Diabetes in children can be of different types. The most common is type 1 diabetes mellitus, an autoimmune condition with a genetic predisposition that may follow a common viral infection. Here the autoimmune process can destroy the beta cells of the pancreas, gradually leading to an absence of insulin production. These children require insulin to survive, which is the only known and validated treatment worldwide.

Type 2 diabetes: Another worrisome and increased trend is type 2 diabetes in young children. Obesity, other than genetics and poor lifestyle, plays a role. What happened in the fifth or sixth decades of life is now happening in the second and third decades.

Causes and complication: 

• Complications for young diabetics can be acute, resulting in severe hyperglycaemic status causing diabetic ketoacidosis, often requiring hospitalisation and treatment.
• The other complication is to avoid low blood sugar, which may happen due to a mismatch in the amount of insulin taken, amount and timing of food and exercise.
• The dreaded long-term complications are those affecting the heart, the kidney, and eyes, leading to blindness, gangrene and amputations in the long run, which has to be prevented by ensuring reasonable blood sugar control from the beginning and can reduce glycaemic variability or fluctuations in blood sugar.

Lifestyle changes you can make:  The treatment for type 1 diabetes is essentially insulin therapy, but diet and exercise go a long way in ensuring reasonable control. A balanced diet with the reduction of carbohydrates, avoiding high glycaemic foods, carbohydrate counting, and regular monitoring of sugar levels is essential for a good time in range and reduced glycaemic content. 

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