fewer illnesses are affecting people at a faster rate than diabetes
Many diseases affect millions of people around the world. However, fewer illnesses are affecting people at a faster rate than diabetes. This includes my own family, as many members have been diagnosed in recent years. According to the American Diabetes Association, in 2012 9.3% of the entire population in the United States had diabetes. This was up 1.0% from just two years prior. Of the 9.3%, 72% of them were undiagnosed, meaning these people were not told about the effects of diabetes or about ways to treat it. This needs to stop. The dangers of diabetes are pronounced and severe. People need to be educated about its effects and learn about how they can change just a few of their daily habits to live a longer, more-fulfilling life. By studying all of the aspects of the illness from an anthropological perspective, it is my hope that we will be able to prevent the spread of the disease any further.
At its core, type 2 diabetes is an irreversible problem with the pancreas. One of the main functions of the pancreas is to secrete insulin. Insulin is used to keep glucose levels in the blood in check. Eventually, someone who has diabetes can no longer keep insulin levels up sufficiently, so large amounts of glucose remain in the blood. This is called hyperglycemia. These high glucose levels lead to many medical complications including heart attack, stroke, and gangrene ("Type 2 Diabetes.").
Type 2 diabetes is likely growing at such a fast pace due to many non-medical reasons. Social and cultural pressures lead many people to do things that they would not normally do outside of those contexts. For example, working hard to make ends meet for one's family will likely lead to stress. Many people cope with stress by eating in excess. Uncontrolled eating can easily lead to type 2 diabetes if it continues to happen. Another example is family gatherings. Many families like to celebrate their culture by cooking large amounts of fatty foods and everyone is expected to eat. A person in that situation will have trouble avoiding a path towards type 2 diabetes if they continue to have that food often.
At its core, type 2 diabetes is an irreversible problem with the pancreas. One of the main functions of the pancreas is to secrete insulin. Insulin is used to keep glucose levels in the blood in check. Eventually, someone who has diabetes can no longer keep insulin levels up sufficiently, so large amounts of glucose remain in the blood. This is called hyperglycemia. These high glucose levels lead to many medical complications including heart attack, stroke, and gangrene ("Type 2 Diabetes.").
Type 2 diabetes is likely growing at such a fast pace due to many non-medical reasons. Social and cultural pressures lead many people to do things that they would not normally do outside of those contexts. For example, working hard to make ends meet for one's family will likely lead to stress. Many people cope with stress by eating in excess. Uncontrolled eating can easily lead to type 2 diabetes if it continues to happen. Another example is family gatherings. Many families like to celebrate their culture by cooking large amounts of fatty foods and everyone is expected to eat. A person in that situation will have trouble avoiding a path towards type 2 diabetes if they continue to have that food often.
Anthropological approaches to combating type 2 diabetes will be explained
For these reasons, culture, social situations, economics, and other factors must play into the study of this illness. In fact, an anthropologist might be better suited to recommend treatment regimens than a medical doctor. While doctors are clearly well-equipped and educated to diagnose the disease and tell their patients how they should live, anthropologists directly study human behavior, which is the real source of the illness. Anthropologists use many different methods to examine why people do the things they do, such as examining how someone's environment has influenced their decisions, how their economic status can lead to certain decisions, or even how changes in the political arena can lead to larger changes in the populace. Anthropological approaches to combating type 2 diabetes will be explained throughout this website. The knowledge obtained through this type of behavioral study is the key to helping the growing population of diabetics understand why they have obtained the disease and what they can do to improve their life going forward.
American Diabetes Association. "Type 2 Diabetes." Accessed July 03, 2014. http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics/type-2/.