Diabetes is a serious disease that if not taken care of can rob you of your sight, kidneys, and limbs. Every 19 seconds someone is diagnosed with diabetes. And the majority of those individuals will be African American. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are 4.9 million African Americans living in the United States with diabetes.
These individuals typically will be categorized as having one of three common types of diabetes; type 1, type 2, or gestational. In adults, type 1 diabetes accounts for approximately 5% of all diagnoses; type 2 represents about 90% to 95% of all cases, with reported rates of gestational diabetes ranging from 2% to 10% of pregnancies. Most African Americans will be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
What is Diabetes?
Diabetes is a group of diseases characterized by elevated blood glucose—also called blood sugar, levels due to problems in insulin secretion, insulin action or both. Insulin is the hormone that helps move glucose into your cells to be used as energy.
Gestational diabetes can develop in the late stages of a woman’s pregnancy, as a result of pregnancy hormones that prevent insulin from doing its job. Although this form of diabetes usually goes away afterthe baby is born, African American women who develop gestational diabetes face a 52% increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes in the future compared to non-Hispanic Caucasian women diagnosed with gestational diabetes.
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Type 1 Diabetes is an autoimmune disease—your immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys the cells in the pancreas where insulin is made. It’s not clear why this happens, but, when it does, your body isn’t able to make enough of its own insulin to keep your blood-sugar levels normal. People with type 1 diabetes require daily insulin injections to live.
Type 2 Diabetes is the most prevalent type of diabetes; nine out of every ten people diagnosed with the disease have this type. For every six white Americans who have it, 10 African Americans do. Though research has established that a person's likelihood of getting diabetes is strongly based on genetics, the exact cause of type 2 diabetes is not understood, but we do understand how it works: if you have type 2 your body either doesn't make enough insulin, which is called insulin deficiency, or the cells in the muscles, liver, and fat do not use insulin properly, which is called insulin resistance.
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Type 2 diabetes most often occurs in people who:
- Are over 40 years of age. As you age, the pancreas may not work as well.
- Are overweight or physically inactive. When you are overweight, your cells become more resistant to insulin.
- Have a family history of diabetes. If other members of your family have diabetes, you are more likely to get it.
- Have a history of diabetes during pregnancy. The hormones of pregnancy make your cells more resistant to insulin.
- Have given birth to a large baby weighing over 9 pounds. Women giving birth to large babies might have had gestational diabetes, which is a risk factor for diabetes.
- Are African American, Latino American or American Indian. Researchers think this may be caused by the “thrifty” genes that helped their ancestors survive by increasing fat storage during periods of famine. But today, with food readily available, the ability to store fat only results in obesity.
- Have impaired glucose tolerance. This means you have blood glucose levels above normal but lower than a person with diabetes.
- Have high blood pressure or high blood fats. These conditions are associated with insulin resistance.
Diabetes can be a difficult disease to understand. You can’t see it or feel it, and as you just discovered there are different types of diabetes. But all types of diabetes require similar care—eating well, exercising regularly, taking insulin or oral medications if they’re prescribed and working closely with your healthcare provider.
Constance Brown-Riggs, is a registered dietitian, certified diabetes educator, national speaker and author of the Diabetes Guide to Enjoying Foods of the World, a convenient guide to help people with diabetes enjoy all the flavors of the world while still following a healthy meal plan. Follow Constance on social media @eatingsoulfully
