Coronavirus health warning: Obesity bigger risk than heart disease or diabetes

From express.co.uk

  OVERWEIGHT and obese people should be given better protection from coronavirus, say scientists

It follows research showing obesity is a bigger risk factor for deadly complications of Covid-19 than heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes put together in the under-50s. At present those shielded include over-70s, people on immune suppressing drugs and with lung diseases. They also include people who have previously suffered from cancer - but this group does not so far appear to be at more risk. The public health focus has so far concentrated on protective measures from isolation and hand washing to healthy eating and exercise.

Dr Rajarshi Banerjee, from Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, believes obese people may be more at risk because their internal organs are damaged due to inflammation caused by fatty deposits.
He has launched a study into patient recovery from Covid-19 to identify risk factors of the virus.

Dr Banerjee said: "Studies like these should inform our thinking as to who needs cocooning or shielding such as obese patients who have unseen and silent internal damage to their organs, such as liver and kidneys, putting them more at risk of complications.
"Research into this will likely be a key to understanding who are most at risk and perhaps the treatments that can help. Also it will help us decide if we isolate obese patients or those with fatty liver disease for longer.
"This plague of our times targets obesity and this is linked with inflammation in the liver and fatty liver disease which is more of a hidden problem affecting 20 per cent of the UK population."

Dr Banerjee's study, which begins next week, will be carried out by Perspectum, an Oxford-based healthcare and diagnostics company together with data from the UK genetic health resource UK Biobank to determine how much damage Covid-19 causes to patients' internal organs with particular focus on obese patients.

    Dr Banerjee's study, which begins next week, will be carried out by Perspectum (Image: Getty)

A new study from the US Centre for Disease Control based on 99 counties and 14 states from March examined the underlying conditions of patients hospitalised with the virus to determine which risk factors led to the most severe disease.

These included heart disease, diabetes, chronic lung disease, obesity and high blood pressure. For those over 65 the biggest predictor of being hospitalised was high blood pressure, accounting for over 70 per cent, with heart disease accounting for half.

About 60 per cent of hospital cases under the age of 50 were obese, compared with 18 per cent with high blood pressure, 19 per cent with diabetes and four per cent with cardiovascular disease.
Obesity accounted for 50 per cent of hospitalisations in those aged 50-64 and 40 per cent in those aged over 65.

Studies from the UK, US and Italy suggest hospitalisation rates for Covid-19 may escalate far more than in China because patients with fatty liver disease - associated with bad diet and excess weight - are at a much higher than average risk of complications of the virus. Research shows they also remain infectious for longer - 17 days rather than 12 days in patients without liver disease.

https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/health/1270935/coronavirus-health-warning-obesity-heart-disease-diabetes-risk-factor-vulnerable

Obesity Is Biggest Type 2 Diabetes Risk Factor

From usnews.com

THURSDAY, April 16, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Whether you have a low or a high genetic risk for type 2 diabetes, obesity seems to be the driving factor in developing the disease, Danish researchers say.

Their new study found that obesity increased the risk of type 2 diabetes by at least six times, no matter what a person's genetic risk was.

"Obesity and unfavourable lifestyle are associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes irrespective of genetic risk," said study author Hermina Jakupović. She's a doctoral fellow in biomedicine at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.

These findings suggest that no matter what your family history might be, maintaining a healthy weight is a key to keeping type 2 diabetes at bay.

"Weight management by healthy lifestyle should be recommended as a prevention strategy, regardless of genetic predisposition," Jakupović said.

Her team used data from a diet, cancer and health study in Denmark. It included people whose health was tracked for a median of 15 years (meaning half were followed longer, half for less time). More than 4,700 adults developed type 2 diabetes during the tracking.

Among all these study participants, the average age was 56, and slightly more than half were men. Nearly 22% were obese, while 43% were overweight. Just over 35% were normal weight, the researchers reported.

Lifestyle was assessed using a score based on physical activity, diet, alcohol consumption and smoking. About 40% had a favourable lifestyle score and just over 25% had what the researchers called an unfavourable lifestyle.

Genetic risk was measured with blood tests that looked for 193 gene variants known to be associated with type 2 diabetes. The genetic results were grouped from lowest risk to the highest (having the most genetic variants). People with the most genetic variants were twice as likely to develop type 2 diabetes as those with the least, the findings showed.

Compared to people whose weight was normal, those who were overweight had a 2.4 times higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes during the study. For those who were obese, the risk was six times higher.

When researchers looked only at lifestyle, people with the least healthy habits -- the unfavourable group -- were 18% more likely to get type 2 diabetes than those with the healthiest habits.

People with the unhealthiest lifestyle, a high genetic risk and obesity had more than 14 times the risk of type 2 diabetes.

Dr. Robert Eckel, president of medicine and science for the American Diabetes Association, said the findings weren't a surprise. Obesity is a well-known risk factor for type 2 diabetes, he said.

"Genetic variants only explain about 10% to 15% of type 2 diabetes risk, although I think we may not completely understand all of the type 2 genes," he noted.

Eckel said the findings are yet more evidence highlighting how important it is "to prevent obesity to begin with. Everyone needs to control their energy balance." That means you can't eat more calories than you use up with activity.

Physical activity is an important component of maintaining a healthy weight, too, he added.

Previous studies have shown that losing even a little bit of weight can help people manage type 2 diabetes. The American Diabetes Association says dropping 10 to 15 pounds can help you control your diabetes.

"It's not just losing the weight, though," Eckel added. "Keeping it off is important."

The findings were published April 15 in Diabetologia.

https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2020-04-16/obesity-is-biggest-type-2-diabetes-risk-factor

A non-invasive way of monitoring diabetes

From sciencedaily.com

Saliva could be used instead of blood to monitor diabetes in a method proposed in research involving the University of Strathclyde.

The test has been developed as an alternative to the current prevalent practice of monitoring blood glucose, which can be invasive, painful and costly.

Lab tests of the saliva process had an accuracy rate of 95.2%. The research shows promising results for monitoring diabetes, which affects an estimated 425 million people worldwide -- around half of them undiagnosed.

The research has been published in the journal PLOS ONE. It also involved partners at the Federal University of Uberlandia in Minas Gerais, Brazil, the University of Vale do Paraíba in Sao Paolo, Brazil and the University of Saskatchewan in Canada.

Dr Matthew Baker, a Reader in Strathclyde's Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry and lead researcher in the project, said: "Frequent monitoring of diabetes is essential for improved glucose control and to delay clinical complications related to the condition. Early screening is also paramount in reducing these complications worldwide.

"Blood analysis for screening, monitoring and diagnosing diabetes is widely practised but is quite invasive and painful. The constant need of piercing the fingers several times daily for most patients may lead to the development of finger calluses, as well as difficulty in obtaining blood samples; furthermore, not everyone would want to give blood and there are circumstances in which it could be dangerous.

"Saliva reflects several physiological functions of the body, such as emotional, hormonal, nutritional and metabolic, and so its biomarkers could be an alternative to blood for robust early detection and monitoring. It is easy to collect, non-invasive, convenient to store and requires less handling than blood during clinical procedures, while also being environmentally efficient. It also contains analytes with real-time monitoring value which can be used to check a person's condition."

Dr Robinson Sabino-Silva, an associate professor at Federal University of Uberlandia (UFU) and a partner in the research, said: "The present protocol used in the infrared platform is able to detect spectral biomarkers without reagents. The combination of a non-invasive salivary collection and a reagent-free analysis permit us to monitor diabetes with a sustainable platform classified as green technology."

The lab tests used a scientific system known as Attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy. This has been used in the diagnosis of several diseases, although its applications in the monitoring of diabetic treatment have begun to emerge only recently. Samples were assessed in three categories -- diabetic, non-diabetic and insulin-treated diabetic -- and two potential diagnostic biomarkers were identified.

The researchers are hopeful that the process they have developed could be used for both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, although further study will be required to confirm this.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/04/200416135954.htm

American Organizations coming together to represent Type 1 diabetics during coronavirus

From abcnews.go.com

A new study is set to look at how COVID-19 affects Type 1 diabetics

Patients with novel coronavirus each have their own unique set of circumstances for treatment, especially if they already have underlying medical conditions, like diabetes.

The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention say people with diabetes have an increased risk of severe illness from COVID-19 infection, but the agency does not differentiate between Type 1 or Type 2 diabetics.

Now, researchers are launching a study to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on people living with Type 1 diabetes, specifically. The data from the study will be used to understand what happens as a consequence of COVID-19 infection in this group of people and how to improve the quality of care and response to this pandemic, according to Dr. Osagie Ebekozien, an endocrinologist and the vice president of Population Health and Quality Improvement at T1D Exchange.
"What does COVID 19 mean for people with Type 1 diabetes? Everyone kept responding, we don't know, we don't know," said Ebekozien.

According to the American Diabetes Association, 34.2 million Americans are living with diabetes. The majority have Type 2 diabetes, a disease closely linked to obesity and poor diet, when the body stops producing enough insulin.

Insulin is a hormone that helps regulate the amount of sugar in the blood, so Type 2 diabetes causes your body to be resistant to the effects of insulin or doesn't produce enough to maintain a normal blood sugar. Risk factors include genetics and lifestyle, like lack of exercise and obesity, according to the Mayo Clinic. Type 2 diabetes can be managed through medications, diet and exercise.

But 1.6 million Americans have Type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune condition that is usually diagnosed early in life, but also sometimes in adulthood. Its causes are not fully known, and there is currently no cure, according to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

"Because Type 1 diabetics are unable to release insulin after consuming carbohydrates, they must use insulin injections or a pump to survive," said Dr. Mary Pat Gallagher, a paediatric endocrinologist and the director of the Paediatric Diabetes Centre at NYU Langone Health's Hassenfeld Children's Hospital.

In addition to the need to manually control blood sugars, patients' immune systems overreact to parts of the body for which it should be "tolerant," according to Gallagher. As long as blood sugars are well controlled, this inappropriate immune response should not necessarily increase the risk of developing infections.

A woman with diabetes monitors her glycaemia in Paris on March 24, 2020, on the eighth day of a strict lockdown in France aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19 caused by the novel coronavirus. Franck Fife/AFP via Getty Images

People with Type 2 diabetes are also found to have hypertension and obesity, which increase the risk for poorer health. However, Gallagher explained that a high body mass index and hypertension are associated with severe illness, regardless of whether a person has diabetes or not.

Gallagher said it's not clear if people with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes are at similar risk for COVID-19, because there are multiple factors at work. T1D Exchange, the non-profit research organization coordinating the new study, plans to share initial results by the end of April. As data continues to emerge from the long-term study, the organization will continue to update recommendations at least twice a month.

"We looked at the data that came out from China and Italy and it is skewed toward Type 2 diabetes. We wanted to know, 'How is the presentation of COVID-19 different in these patients in comparison to another adult or child without diabetes?' There are so many unknowns, so we are working with our partners to answer these questions," said Ebekozien.

Separately, researchers are also studying the effects the COVID-19 pandemic might be having on people with Type 1 diabetes -- particularly children and young adults who are no longer getting regular medical care or nutritional help at school. Ebekozien hopes that with this project, they can help patients and families learn how to manage blood sugars at home due to the school closures across the country.

Experts know from experience with other types of infections that people with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes can show different symptoms. People living with Type 1 diabetes usually respond to an infection with dangerously high blood sugar levels and acid in their blood, called diabetic ketoacidosis.

"There is a certain percentage of people that die from diabetic ketoacidosis each year," said Gallagher. "When stress hormones are released by the body [because of an infection], insulin requirements increase and because their body cannot meet those requirements anymore it begins a whole cascade of things. ... You have acid build up in the blood that can be deadly."

That threat makes it important to study the way people with Type 1 diabetes react to COVID-19 infection.

To accurately treat diabetic ketoacidosis, health care workers need to check on people with Type 1 diabetes every hour until their blood sugar is at a safe level. If a patient with Type 1 diabetes is infected with COVID-19, managing their blood sugars can be difficult with the health care workers having constant exposure to the virus as hospitals deal with a lack of personal protective equipment.

To help alleviate this issue, Abbott Laboratories, a medical device company, has partnered with the American Diabetes Association, Insulin for Life USA and the Diabetes Disaster Response Coalition to donate 25,000 Libre blood sugar devices which patients can place on the back of their arm.

Through this patch, patients have their blood sugars tracked at all times, which can be monitored through an app on their phone and by physicians on a computer screen. This way, there is less interaction between patients and clinicians in a hospital setting.

These donations will be sent to areas in the U.S. that have a high number of COVID-19 cases. There are other brands of continuous glucose monitors, including products from Dexcom or Medtronic, that many people with diabetes already use as part of their routine.

"There is a power of coming together, cross learning and cross sharing," said Ebekozien. "We encourage patients to talk to their providers to be a part of this study and share their reports. We hope to be a support and voice for patients at this time; it will come from a collaborative effort to improve lives today and tomorrow. I hope we all ride this wave coming out better and learning a few things as well."

Patients and their providers are able to register on the T1D Exchange webpage to participate in the two studies launched earlier this month.

Lily Nedda Dastmalchi, D.O., M.A., is an internal medicine resident physician at The George Washington University and a contributor to the ABC News Medical Unit.

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/organizations-coming-represent-type-diabetics-coronavirus/story?id=70120156

Tips for People with Diabetes During the Stay-at-Home Orders

From diabeteseducator.org
By Melissa Young, PharmD, RPh, BC-ADM, CDE

Now that many of my clients are sheltering in place during the COVID-19 pandemic and telling me they are bored with Netflix binges; I am asked for tips on things they should do with the extra time on their hands. It is a stressful time, especially for those at high risk for complications. Remember, improving management of blood glucose helps the immune system function properly to fight viruses. This is an opportunity to take advantage of the downtime, stay busy and focus on forming healthy habits! Here are 11 tips for people with diabetes while sheltering in place. For more information on healthy behaviours, visit DiabetesEducator.org/healthybehaviors.

• Practice social distancing.
  A word of caution…BEWARE of close contact with other shoppers at the grocers! Food delivery services in many areas are now mandated to provide “no contact” delivery - the groceries are simply left on your doorstep.

• Take a Coronavirus news break.
  Take a break from Coronavirus news each day. Constant involvement can increase your stress level and affect your blood glucose.

• Prepare for sick days. 
  While you have the time, prepare a sick day kit and plan. Be prepared with extra medications, diabetes supplies and contact your diabetes care team for a sick day plan to know if/how much you should adjust insulin or other medications when blood glucose is affected by illness.

• Relieve stress.
  Take a few minutes and experience the many benefits of meditation. Stress reduction and improved focus are just two of the benefits of practicing mindfulness. Check out Mindful.org to get started and you will be a meditation expert in no time.

• Pay attention to dental care.
  People with diabetes are at an increased risk for gum disease, which in turn can lead to elevated blood glucose. Start an optimal dental care routine with brushing twice daily and flossing every day. If you have red or painful gums, call your dentist!

• Eat healthy.
  Healthy eating strategies are critical to managing your diabetes. There are many online resources to get you started. Ask your health care provider for a referral to a certified diabetes care and education specialist who can teach nutrition strategies via online video or telephone visits while you are sheltering in place.

• Make mealtimes a family affair.
  Practice preparing healthy meals with your family. Quality time with the family and healthy eating habits for all! Go to the American Diabetes Association’s Diabetes Food Hub for some quick, easy and healthy recipes.

• Care for your feet.
  Don't forget your feet! Wash, dry and moisturize every day. Thoroughly dry, but do not moisturize, between the toes. Trim toenails carefully straight across, inspect for blisters/sores/redness in skin every day (use hand mirror for soles of feet) and never go barefoot!

• Stay active.
  Keep it moving! Just 10 minutes of exercise increases oxygen to the brain, lowers stress, calms nerves, and improves mood. Start low and go slow. Activity groups with friends, family and co-workers using text, Facetime, Skype or Zoom are a great way to motivate. Many companies are offering free or trial access to their apps and local gyms may be streaming group fitness classes. If you have limited mobility, then chair exercises are a perfect option to stay active!

• Connect to peer support.
  Connect with others. Talk with people you trust about your concerns and how you are feeling. Online peer support communities offer an outlet available 24/7. For more information, visit DiabetesEducator.org/PeerSupport. 

• Learn to cope.
  Many people are under large amounts of stress and anxiety during this time. It’s important to practice healthy coping strategies, which for people with diabetes can help avoid spikes in blood glucose. For additional guidance from the CDC on healthy coping and managing stress, checkout their resources. 

https://www.diabeteseducator.org/news/perspectives/aade-blog-details/adces-perspectives-on-diabetes-care/2020/04/13/tips-for-people-with-diabetes-during-the-stay-at-home-orders

COVID-19 is changing everything. Here's what that means for diabetes

From fiercehealthcare.com

Social distancing is critical in managing the spread of COVID-19, particularly for diabetic patients who are at high risk for serious complications if they catch the novel coronavirus.

But being stuck at home also poses major barriers to managing their diabetes in the first place.

Now, health plans and their tech partners are adapting to a world where their members with prediabetes or Type 2 diabetes are encouraged to stay within their homes—adapting existing tools aimed at lifestyle change to meet the new, more isolated reality.

Angie Kalousek, director of markets and lifestyle medicine at Blue Shield of California, who helps run the insurer’s Wellvolution program, said that’s also required a shift in priorities to meet member needs. Emotional health and well-being are becoming a central focus, she said. 

Alex Petrov, CEO of Yes Health, a tech platform that partners with Blue Shield, agreed, saying that amid financial worries and increasing isolation, addressing behavioural health has edged out fitness and nutrition in the hierarchy of needs amid the pandemic. 

“The COVID-19 reality has completely changed our story and our approach,” Petrov said. 

That’s a trend that’s not limited to Blue Shield and Yes Health. Sean Duffy, CEO of Omada Health, said that his company has a seen its diabetes patients increase their use of Omada’s behavioural health tools by 10 times of late. 

That led Omada to more directly integrate some of its behavioural health modules into its platform for chronic disease management, he said. 

“The reality is everyone’s feeling it in their own way,” Duffy said, “but the month of April for the country is associated with extraordinary levels of anxiety.” 

Chronic care management companies and their health plan partners have also been forced to quickly roll out options to help people work out at home and manage their nutrition more independently. 

Kalousek said that Blue Shield’s partners like Yes Health are offering virtual exercise options, and the insurer has also been making video content available to members directly.  

Blue Shield launched an internal program for employees to encourage them to stay fit while staying home, and the positive response has led the company to share those clips through social media so members can view them as well.  

The content varies and includes popular options such as zumba and yoga to keep the experience fresh, she said. 

“We don’t know where COVID is going and we don’t know how many people are going to get it, but I think now more than ever, especially for people in the diabetes population, this is the time for them to address their issues,” Kalousek said. 

Omada added new communities to its app to help its users stay fit and healthy at home, Duffy said. About 1,100 people signed up for the “Staying Active at Home” community within its first 24 hours, and 922 joined the platform’s “Healthy Eating at Home on a Budget” community in its first day. 

Omada’s app uses modular tiles for personalized alerts, and the company launched 28 new tiles in response to COVID-19 and nixed 12 that weren’t appropriate for users during the pandemic, he said. Omada also added 10 new goals for users and temporarily removed 24 that didn’t work for now. 

The company’s product team holds a daily virtual meeting to weigh ongoing platform changes to better suit users’ needs as they stay home, Duffy said. 

“We have never had to use as much of the modular features to make pivotal product changes as quickly as we have over the last month, because the realities for our participants were so night and day different,” he said. 

Diabetes management companies are also seeing changes in medication management and adherence thanks to the pandemic. 

Anurati Mathur, CEO of Sempre Health, a platform that offers point-of-sale dynamic drug discounts and text reminders in concert with health insurers, said signs point to diabetes patients more closely managing their medications as the pandemic continues. 

“With what we know about patient behaviour at this time, they’re actively managing their chronic conditions and staying on top of refills in a way that may not have previously,” Mathur said. 

Sempre is also seeing the pandemic lead to more users understanding the benefits they have available to them—such as home medication delivery—that will still be options when the crisis has waned, said Kyle Wildnauer-Haigney, vice president of business development at Sempre Health. 

The changes brought on by social distancing are likely to have a lasting effect on managing diabetes, Duffy said. He expects that the increased use of telehealth and digital health tools will stick. 

For example, Omada offers continuous glucose monitors to some of its members, which cut down on the need for visits to the doctor for HbA1c tests. It’s a great perk when people are asked to stay home as much as possible to limit the strain on the system during a pandemic, but also one that can avoid visits in more normal times, too. 

“There's never been a stronger case in my mind that one should ask yourself, ‘Do you really need to go in person for this element of care or not?’” Duffy said. 

https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/payer/how-covid-19-changing-care-management-for-diabetes-patients

Are You At Risk Of Developing Type-2 Diabetes?

From ndtv.com

Diabetes is a progressive disease that occurs when your body is unable to produce or use an adequate amount of insulin. Early detection and prevention can help control the condition. Here are risk factors, symptoms and much more you need to know about type-2 diabetes.

At present, there are approximately 77 million Indians living with diabetes. This means that every sixth person with diabetes is an Indian. Around the world, Type-2 diabetes accounts for about 90 to 95 percent of all diagnosed cases. There has been a staggering increase in diabetes in India over the last 3 decades. It is estimated that in Indian metropolitan cities, almost 20% of people at the age of 20, and 35-40% at the age of 60 may have diabetes. (CARRS Study 2013).

Furthermore, there is a sharp increase in type-2 diabetes in children and teenagers, even though it was traditionally regarded as a disease of adults. It is estimated that by 2030, nearly 98 million people in India may have type-2 diabetes. These alarming figures make it imperative to stem the rising tide of diabetes. Even as type 2 diabetes has continued to permeate in Indian society, awareness of its causes, symptoms, and treatment is low. To mitigate the risk of developing type-2 diabetes, it is important to educate everyone on the issue and ensure that the early symptoms of type-2 diabetes are not ignored and are given proper medical attention and care.

What is type-2 diabetes? Know causes, symptoms and much more

Diabetes is a progressive disease that occurs when your body is unable to produce or use an adequate amount of insulin, resulting in high blood glucose levels that can damage your body over time. Insulin is a hormone that uses glucose from food for energy. Type-2 diabetes occurs when your body cannot produce enough insulin and cannot effectively use the produced insulin. This condition is called insulin resistance, and it may take several months or even years to develop.

Causes of type-2 diabetes

The symptoms of type-2 diabetes may not be visible at onset - in fact, 50% of those with diabetes have no symptoms. Some may present with acute symptoms early in the course of disease but often by the time symptoms manifest, organ damage may already have taken place. Testing blood glucose in those at risk of developing diabetes is important even if they have no symptom. All Indians should be screened periodically once they cross 30. Earlier testing should be carried out for all those with family history, obesity, and women with a history of PCOS or large sized babies. Those presenting with high blood pressure or high cholesterol are also more likely to be suffering from diabetes.
Scientific evidence suggests that not only Indians have an increased degree of insulin resistance as well as pancreatic beta cell dysfunction.

Although genetic predisposition to diabetes is a concern, lifestyle choices are worthy of equal consideration. Adapting an active lifestyle that incorporates a healthy diet plan and regular exercise, can significantly reduce the risk of developing type-2 diabetes - even for people who have a family history of diabetes. It is essential to keep weight in control if the BMI is below 23, the risk of diabetes is clearly low. The ideal waist circumference is below 80 cms for women and 90 cms for men.

Symptoms of type 2 diabetes

People may present with the following symptoms- alone or in combination:

• Frequent urination as your body expels excess glucose due to high blood sugar levels. The need for urination is higher, especially in the night time
• Increased thirst resulting from frequent urination. The resulting dehydration from frequent urination causes an urge to drink water to replenish the body
• Excessive hunger or increased appetite. Since glucose is unable to enter the cells, your cells signal that you should continue to eat so they can get the glucose they need
• Tiredness and fatigue as the sugar moving into the body's cells are insufficient, leading to the production of less energy
• Increase rate of infections as glucose in urine propels the growth of fungus and bacteria
• Poor or blurry vision due to the presence of high sugar levels in the fluid of your eye
• Sudden weight loss as your body substitutes fat for energy when the blood cells cannot absorb enough glucose.

If you are leading an unhealthy lifestyle, have a family history of diabetes or are experiencing against the symptoms as mentioned above, seeing your doctor to test for type 2 diabetes is essential.

Diagnosed early, type 2 diabetes can be controlled, and sometimes even reversed. A healthy lifestyle can certainly slow the progress of the disease and can prevent or reduce long term impact on the heart, kidneys, eyes and other organs

The components of a healthy lifestyle include a diet low in refined carbohydrates and trans or saturated fat, greater intake of fibre and protein, and regular physical exercise. Maintaining ideal body weight is your biggest protection against developing diabetes.

https://www.ndtv.com/health/are-you-at-risk-of-developing-type-2-diabetes-2210337