LATE-ONSET DIABETES

Late-onset,or type II, diabetes starts rather insidiously in middle age or old age, and may not be diagnosed until the eyes or kidneys are irrreversibly damaged. In fact, it is often discovered by an optician during a routine eye test. To some extent late-onset diabetes is an inherited condition and if your parents, grandparents or other members of your family have developed the condition it is a good idea to ask your doctor about testing you for it.





The finger-prick test enables people with diabetes to monitor their blood sugar levels accurately at home.








Who Develop Late-Onset Diabetes?
You are more at risk of developing late-onset diabetes if you are overweight. In many people, obesity causes the cells of the body to become resistant to the action of insulin (a hormone that removes sugar from the blood and transports it into hte body's cell). This means sugar levels in the blood stay high because the insulin is unable to remove it. Juvenile diabetes, or type I, which starts at a younger age, is different because it is caused by a lack of insulin.

Where the extra fat is stored in overweight people can also provide a clue to the risk of developing late-onset diabetes. Doctors have observed that those people most at risk carry their weight around their middle. This is so-called 'apple shape' is more likely to precede diabetes than the 'pear shape', in which extra fat is stored around the buttocks and thighs.

What you eat may also increase the risk of late-onset diabetes. Resistance to insulin by the cells is aggravated by a lack of chromium, which can be deficient in a diet that contains too many refined food, such as white flour, bread and sugar. In addition, too much fat in the diet may reduce the absorption of chromium from food. Chromium deficiency can be a problem in people who eat a diet composed largely of highly refined food.

Lowering The Risks Of Diabetes
The recommended diet for people with late-onset diabetes, or those who are at risk of developing it, is based on the Optimum Diet, including, where necessary, eating for the right weight. Adequate vitamins and minerals are essential because they can help t reduve the complications of diabetes.

There is much research to support the view that late-onset diabetes is related to a low fibre intake, so a high-fibre diet is recommended for both treatment and prevention. The best way to increase the fibre in your diet is to eat whole-grain cereals, whole fruits and vegetables including their skins where appropriate, nuts and seeds and, perhaps most important of all, pulses. Pulses are rich in fibre and chromium and they are digested very slowly, thus avoiding rapid changes in the level of sugar in the blood. Fibre supplements appear to be less effective in reducing the risks of diabetes than eating the fibre in food.

In addition to a good diet, increasing the amount of exerise you get can be highly beneficial and may even reverse the onset of diabetes, especially when any excess weight is also shed. Chromium is one of the minerals that is lost in perspiration and it is important to ensure an adequate daily intake.

Good Sources Of Chromium

• Most fruits and vegetables
• Yeast extract
• Beef
• Cheese
• Egg yolks
• Grapes, grape juice, wine
• Whole-grain cereals and their unrefined flour
• Hard water

Eating For The Right Weight
Even if you have never had a problem maintainig your optimum weight, you may find this becomes less easy at 50+. The main problem is the gentle decline in what scientists call the metabolic rate, which is simply a measurement of the rate at which the body burns up energy. The decline can be offset by taking exercise.

The Optimum Diet can be adapted for weight control:

• At least 70% of your food should come from fruit, vegetables, whole-grain cereals and beans. Eating a large green salad (with a fat-free dressing) or fat-free vegetable soup 10-15 minutes before a meal can blunt hunger.
• Be strict about your fat intake. Fat is high in calories and does not send messages of fullness and satisfaction to the brain. Read food labels critically: '85% fat-free' means that every 100g (31/2oz) of the food contains 15g (1/2oz) of fat.
• Avoid refined sugar and alcoholic beverages. Eat whole fruit rather than drinking fruit juices, or choose vegetable juice.
• Drink plenty of water: the feeling of hunger is sometimes simply thirst.
• If you need to take major changes to your diet, do this gradually to allow you digestive system to adapt.

In addition to a good diet, increasing the amount of daily exercise you do can be highly beneficial in preventing and treating diabetes.