Diabetes – Penalty for Toeing the Fast Lane?

While it is known that diabetes is a disease owing to the depletion or lack of adequate supply of insulin which is the hormone secreted by the isles of Langerhans (cell clusters that form the endocrine part of this organ) in the pancreas in the human system; it is also established by medical research that it is a disease that is precipitated by the excessive presence of sugar in the blood stream. Hence once your blood sugar indicates a high level than that which is normal, it is assumed that such a one has every reason to be concerned.

As such, every effort has to be made to ensure the balancing of the said blood sugar level, that is, it must be returned to normalcy. Because diabetes has been known, or sometimes referred to as a disease of the blood sugar which is actually glucose in the blood stream, some people tend to easily think that it has to do with just the excessive consumption of sugar and, or sweet drinks such as soft drinks (minerals and malted drinks). 

Are you living on the fast lane?

Some people also want to allude to the fact that anything sweet including fruits, are among the culprits or causative agents in this disease. In as much as the excessive consumption of sugar and sweet drinks particularly is not totally healthy, it is rather a myth to think that sweet fruits are also responsible for anyone contracting diabetes. As a result of this misconception, a lot of people in this country have continued therefore to delude themselves with the notion that it is only logical that the a diseased condition of diabetes can be tackled or even reversed simply by the consumption of bitter herbs and all sort of bitter concoctions brewed by the ever rising horde of itinerant herbal medicine dealers around town.

But the bad news is that, however how logical this belief and practice may seem, it is not entirely true. The fact nevertheless is that it is not necessarily about the consumption of sweet foods and drinks per se, but rather it has to do with the fact that as I have stated in previous writing, we have allowed ourselves to be misdirected towards the over consumption of processed foods due to the fast pace of modern society and its attendant life style. Modern civilization and our ever changing life style have brought along with it the convention of processed foods, refined sugars, food packaging and all manner of preservation and storage. All of this practice readily beckons on diabetes, a modern day disease – perhaps the penalty modern society is paying for driving on the fast lane. 

Most of these foods and drinks are rather unhealthy and do not encourage the system in its natural ability to produce insulin which has the function of regulating storage of glycogen in the liver and the acceleration of the oxidation process of sugar in cells. These foods will rather deplete the insulin level in the blood thereby resulting in diabetes. While blood sugar or glucose is an important source of physiological energy by its normal presence and function, the problem is in its over-secretion due to the presence of ‘unwholesome’ diet in the system.

By Morgan Nwanguma