Interesting Facts About Diabetes (Part 2)

There are many facts about diabetes we should be familiar with.

In addition, read the following 20 interesting facts about diabetes:

1. Experts report that diabetes decreases life expectancy by five to 10 years.
2. Men have a higher risk of death from diabetes than women.
3. Researchers suggest that average glucose levels can be higher for diabetic girls with menstrual difficulties.
4. Women with diabetes are more likely to develop vaginal infections than are non-diabetics.
5. Individuals who have other genetic syndromes such as Down’s syndrome, myotonic syndrome, Turner’s syndrome are also at risk of developing diabetes.
6. Individuals with an “apple” body shape are at greater risk for diabetes than are those with “pear” body shapes.
7. Those with diabetes, particularly adolescent girls with Type 1 diabetes, may be at increased risk of developing eating disorders. Some adolescent girls purposely withhold their insulin to lose weight
8. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), diabetes is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States.
9. In the states, diabetes is the main cause of blindness in individuals at age of 20-74 years. Experts emphasize that early detection and treatment could prevent up to 90% of cases of blindness.
10. Heart disease has increased by 23% for women with diabetes.

10 more interesting facts about diabetes

1. Olympic swimmer Gary Hall Jr. has Type 1 diabetes. Due to his diagnosis, his physician told him to give up swimming. He changed doctors, continued training, and finally, he won a gold medal.
2. White children have a greater risk of developing Type 1 diabetes than children of other races. However, it varies greatly from country to country.
3. The word “diabetes” is Greek for “siphon”. It refers to the copious urine of uncontrolled diabetes. “Mellitus” is Latin for “honey” or “sweet,”. The name was added when physicians discovered that the urine from people with diabetes is sweet with glucose.
4. The name “diabetes” is attributed to the famed Greek physician Aretaeus of Cappadocia. He practiced in the first century A.D. and believed that diabetes was caused by snakebite.
5. Each year, there are approximately 86,000 lower-limb amputations on diabetics in the United States. Rates of amputation were higher among men than women and higher among African-Americans than whites.
6. Some studies have indicated that individuals with diabetes are at much greater risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease. Furthermore, they can develop other forms of dementia than are non-diabetics.
7. William Cullen (1710-1790) is a professor of chemistry and medicine from Scotland. He is responsible for adding the term “Mellitus” which means “sweet” or “honey-like” to the word diabetes.
8. Before the discovery of insulin in 1921, physicians would often put their patients on starvation or semi-starvation diets.
9. The word “insulin” comes from the Latin insula (“island”). In fact, the Islets of Langerhans in the pancreas secretes the hormone.
10. Oskar Minkowski (1858-191931) was the first to link diabetes to the pancreas (pan – “all” + kreas – “flesh). He removed the pancreas from a dog. Later, the dog developed diabetes.

Sources:https://www.factretriever.com/diabetes-facts