Food Talk: Diabetes Prevention

Complications in how the blood sugar regulatory hormone, insulin, is produced, works, or both can result in the group of diseases known as diabetes. People with diabetes may develop serious complications such as heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, blindness, and premature death.

The risk factors for developing diabetes are:

 Family history of diabetes

 Overweight

 Unhealthy diet

 Physical inactivity

 Increasing age

 High blood pressure

 Ethnicity

 Impaired glucose tolerance (IGT)*

 History of gestational diabetes

 Poor nutrition during pregnancy

Did you know that diabetes is preventable?

From these risks, we can modify obesity, impaired glucose metabolism, and physical inactivity.

By emphasizing health in your diet and instituting fun exercise habits now, you can reduce risk by removing the modifiable risk factors associated with developing diabetes.