Eating fresh fruit rather than juice...Significance of hypoglycemia in elderly patients
Dec 28, 2024
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- What kind of disease is diabetes?
▶Diabetes is a chronic metabolic disease caused by a number of complex causes. Glucose, an essential nutrient for our body, cannot be used as an energy source in an appropriate place, leaving an abnormal amount in the blood, resulting in high blood sugar, resulting in various complications.
- What are the main symptoms?
▶Next, polyuria, polyphagia, etc. are typical symptoms. Even if sugar is consumed, polyphagia occurs because it is not properly used where it is needed, and surplus sugar remaining in the blood is discharged through urine, causing polyuria that releases moisture together and increases urine volume, resulting in thirst for water. However, early diabetes often has no symptoms.
- What is the diagnosis of diabetes?
▶Diabetes is diagnosed by fasting for at least 8 hours and blood tests such as fasting blood glucose test, blood glucose test for 2 hours after eating through a hypotension test, and glycated hemoglobin test. The normal blood sugar standard is less than 100mg/dL of plasma glucose in the fasting blood glucose test, less than 140mg/dL of plasma glucose in the glucose test, and the diabetes diagnosis standard is more than 126mg/dL when fasting and more than 200mg/dL in the glucose test. On the basis of glycated hemoglobin, an indicator of average blood sugar levels between 2 and 3 months of patients, less than 5.7% is normal, and more than 6.5% can be diagnosed as diabetes.
-What causes diabetes?
▶Diabetes is caused by a combination of genetic, autoimmune problems, obesity, lifestyle and pancreatic damage, and old age. In addition, when hypertension and dyslipidemia are accompanied, the risk of vascular complications of diabetes increases, so the accompanying disease should be controlled.
-What are good lifestyles to prevent diabetes?
▶ Desirable diet and regular exercise are recommended. Eating balanced nutrients regularly but avoiding foods with too simple sugars, processed foods using liquid fructose, fast foods with insufficient nutrients, and delivery foods are a way to prevent the early occurrence of comorbid diseases such as diabetes and dyslipidemia. Regular exercise and proper activity also help control blood sugar.
- Can't we eat sweet food?
▶Eating a lot of sweets does not necessarily mean you will develop diabetes. However, not only does sweet food cause high blood sugar, but it also increases the risk of obesity due to high calories and low nutrients required by the body, and the more obese you are, the higher the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Obesity also increases insulin resistance in diabetics, making treatment difficult. In particular, it is recommended to be careful because some foods containing liquid fructose, candies, and sweets lack nutrients and sharply increase blood sugar. When eating fruit, it is better to eat fresh fruit rich in fiber rather than juice.
-Is there a difference in treatment methods between young diabetic patients and elderly diabetic patients?
▶ Treatment methods are not significantly different for both young and elderly patients. However, the recommended diabetes drugs may differ first depending on the patient's prevalence period, residual insulin secretion ability, insulin resistance, and comorbidities, and consultation with a specialist is necessary. In addition, although recent drugs cause relatively less hypoglycemia than before, drugs tend to stay in the body longer for elderly patients, and if organ functions such as kidneys are poor, hypoglycemia may occur, and hypoglycemia may not be recognized early.
-Is diabetes a disease unique to lifestyle?
▶Diabetes is not a disease that only affects lifestyle, but a disease caused by multiple causes. In addition to basic lifestyle correction, treatment should be started on time if appropriate medication is needed. In particular, the occurrence of complications is related to the duration of diabetes prevalence, so if you need to start treating diabetes drugs, it is better to control your blood sugar as soon as possible by administering appropriate drugs.
Professor Choi Deok-hyun explained, "Diabetes is a disease in which there are no symptoms in the early stages, and several causes other than heredity work in combination. Therefore, it is important to manage blood sugar through regular blood tests if you have a balanced diet, regular exercise, a family history, obesity, etc., which are risk factors for diabetes.
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bellho@sportschosun.com
