Page 56 - Robeson Living Summer 2021

ByDr. Blackley, DC

Diabetes- The Risk Factors

In the last issue of Robeson Living Dr. Ryan Beck talked a partment, our county’s diabetes death rates are “significantly
great deal about the sugar in our diets. He urged us to be very higher than the state rates…” at 52.7 deaths per 100,000 peo-
careful about how much we are consuming. He also showed us ple. The state average is only 23.8. This means that Robeson
how we are probably getting more sugar intake than we real- County has more than double the amount of diabetes related
ize, even if we are eating mostly “healthy” foods. Today I will deaths than the state average. Another fact that goes hand in
be discussing an issue that can occur when we ingest too many hand with this is that we have one of the worst obesity rates in
sugars. the state.

While I was growing up, one of my favorite things to do after Diabetes is a disease in which the body does not produce
getting out of school for the summer was to visit my grandpar- enough of a hormone called insulin or the body is unable to
ents. We did not live in the same area so a trip to see them was use the insulin that it does make. Insulin is produced by a gland
a big deal to say the least. One of the things that I remember called the pancreas and is required to manage and control blood
about my grandfather is that he never ate dessert with the rest of sugar. This disease affects more than 20 million Americans,
the family after a big meal that my grandmother had prepared, with over 40 million having pre-diabetes.
even though it was always available. I later learned the reason
was that he had developed diabetes at around the time he turned There are two major types of diabetes which are conveniently
seventy. He never complained about this, even though I know called type 1 and type 2. Type 1 is usually diagnosed during
that he had a huge sweet tooth, and he lived many more years childhood and is caused by the body not making enough insu-
before passing away from unrelated causes. lin. This type requires daily injections of insulin and the cause
remains unknown. I will be focusing today on type 2 which is
Since going to school and becoming a doctor I have come to much more common and used to be called adult onset diabetes.
realize how significant the problem of diabetes is in our popula- This is no longer the case since it has been showing up in much
tion. According to a report by the Robeson County Health De- younger people. In this type the pancreas is unable to keep up

Page 56 Robeson Living ~ Summer 2021