The sweet killer

Many, if not all, know me personally through friends or family. And once we meet, it becomes a ‘till death do us part’ arrangement where I make my presence felt every day. How many can guess who I am?

Diabetes is a chronic (long-lasting) health condition that affects how your body turns food into energy. With diabetes, your body doesn’t make enough insulin or can’t use it as well as it should. Too much blood sugar stays in your bloodstream when there isn’t enough insulin or cells stop responding to insulin. Over time, that can cause serious health problems like heart disease, vision loss, and kidney disease.

There are three main types of diabetes: type 1, 2, and gestational diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes is thought to be caused by an autoimmune reaction (the body attacks itself by mistake). This reaction stops your body from making insulin. If you have type 1 diabetes, you’ll need to take insulin every day to survive. Currently, no one knows how to prevent type 1 diabetes.

With type 2 diabetes, your body doesn’t use insulin well and can’t keep blood sugar at normal levels. It develops over many years hence you may not notice any symptoms, so it’s important to get your blood sugar tested if you’re at risk. Type 2 diabetes can be prevented or delayed with healthy lifestyle changes.

Gestational diabetes develops in pregnant women and usually goes away after the baby is born. However, it increases your risk for type 2 diabetes later in life. Your baby is at higher risk for obesity as a child or teen and developing type 2 diabetes later in life.

Per the World Health Organization (WHO), the prevalence of diabetes in Kenya is at 3.3%, and by 2025 we will be looking at a 4.5 % rise. This is due to unawareness, with two-thirds of diabetic patients being undiagnosed.

This World Diabetes Day, it’s time to get you and your loved ones tested.

There isn’t a cure yet for diabetes, but with regular exercise and proper nutrition, which is a diet with enough fibre and cholesterol free, just like our Rinsun cooking oil, this sweet killer can be kept at bay.

Extracted from sunflower seeds, Rinsun is rich in omega 3 and 6, vitamins and proteins that help strengthen the immune system making it the healthy choice.