AutoGen: The Automated Program Generator

The alarming prevalence of Diabetes in our society today must serve as a wake-up call to everyone.  Diabetes news from the American Diabetes Association 2005 survey, about 15 million people in the US have diabetes and about 1.5 million new cases of diabetes were diagnosed more recently.

In other diabetes news, it is estimated that 54 million American have pre-diabetes which, if neglected can develop into Type 2 Diabetes.  Along with this staggering statistics, researches show that an estimated 6.2 million people are not even aware that they have Diabetes.  Could you be one of these people?

Although Type 1 Diabetes is hereditary, Type 2 is often acquired or developed as the person grows older.  Who are at a higher risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes? According to health experts, people who overweight or obese, who live a inactive lifestyle, and those who have unhealthy eating habits are more prone to incurring Diabetes.

How Type 2 Diabetes is Developed

Diabetes is a chronic disease that involves the body’s ability to control its blood sugar level.  Our pancreas releases an enzyme called “insulin” which controls the glucose in our blood.  People with Type 1 Diabetes are not able to produce insulin on their own and this is why they need to take insulin shots for a lifetime.

On the other hand, people with type 2 Diabetes either have developed a resistance to insulin or their pancreas has stopped functioning as it once did.  Why does this happen?  Whenever there is an excess of glucose in our blood, our pancreas acts quickly by producing more insulin to fight those unnecessary glucose.  When we eat too much high-calorie foods all the time, our pancreas also work doubly hard to release more insulin.  This is the reason why overweight or obese people are greatly at risk of developing Diabetes.

In fact, surveys show that in more recent years, teen-agers and even children have been found to develop Type 2 Diabetes at an early age.  Clearly, the kind of lifestyle we live and the types of food we eat contribute to this factor.  For this reason, starting a healthy diet with exercise as early as you can minimizes your risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes.

Two Types Diabetes Tests

There are two ways to acquire diabetes diagnosis - the fasting plasma glucose test (FPG) and the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT).  Both these tests calculate the level of glucose in the person’s blood to determine whether he or she is a diabetic or a pre-diabetic.  The FPG test requires a patient is required to go through an overnight fasting before taking the test.  On the other hand, OGTT is done by taking a first test after fasting and a second test 2 hours after drinking a drink with high-glucose content.

The good news is that after acquiring a proper diabetes diagnosis, you can take positive steps to avoid developing Diabetes.  In fact, according to the Diabetes Prevention Program Study, moderate exercise of at least 30 minutes daily combined and following a healthy-weight loss program improves the body’s response to insulin and keeps the glucose at a safe level.

Whether you are a diabetic or a pre-diabetic, it is important to work closely with your doctor so that positive steps can be done to prevent your condition from worsening.  Truly, the seriousness of the diabetes risk in our society is very real and must not be neglected.  Early diagnosis of this chronic disease increases a patient’s chance of surviving and managing diabetes more effectively.

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