Type 2 diabetes is associated with a variety of factors, including genetics and lifestyle. Although genetics cannot be changed, it can help prevent type 2 diabetes by improving poor lifestyle, staying relaxed, and taking medication when necessary.
Improving a poor lifestyle
- Eat more vegetables: Eating more vegetables increases satiety, reduces calorie intake, and slows the rate of blood glucose elevation, so that the body’s otherwise inadequate insulin has enough time to respond to elevated blood glucose
- Eat less salt: Too much salt can lead to water and sodium retention in the body, which is bad for blood pressure and blood sugar, and foods that are high in salt (sodium chloride) also need to be controlled, such as soy sauce, MSG, pickled foods, canned foods, etc.
- Eat less sugar: When the body consumes added sugar, blood sugar rises rapidly, putting a great burden on the pancreas
- Reduce alcohol consumption: Alcohol provides “empty calories” that do not contain dietary fiber, vitamins, proteins and other beneficial elements, which interferes with the normal metabolism of blood lipids and adversely affects blood glucose metabolism
- Exercise properly and control your weight: Being overweight and obese increases the pancreatic burden, increases insulin resistance, and increases the risk of developing diabetes. It is recommended that people who are obese and overweight increase their daily activity to improve insulin resistance and increase the body’s sensitivity to insulin while losing weight
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Note: Overweight: body mass index > 24 k g/m, obese > 28 k g/m, body mass index = weight/height
Maintain a relaxed mood
A long-term stressful and anxious state of mind may activate the sympathetic nervous system in the body, which in turn inhibits insulin secretion, further aggravating insulin resistance and adversely affecting blood glucose. Therefore, it is important to maintain a good state of mind.
Regular blood glucose monitoring
People at high risk for diabetes can measure their blood glucose regularly at home and should seek prompt medical attention if their fasting blood glucose is ≥6.1 mmol/L or if their blood glucose is ≥7.8 mmol/L at any time.
Aggressive treatment of other diseases
High blood pressure and hyperlipidemia increase the risk of disease and need to be treated aggressively to reduce the risk.
Take medication if necessary
Some patients have elevated blood glucose but have not yet reached the diagnostic criteria for diabetes, called prediabetes. Patients with prediabetes have the opportunity to delay the onset of type 2 diabetes or even reverse it with aggressive lifestyle interventions. Pharmacologic interventions may be considered when necessary, but are not a primary preventive measure, and it is important to follow your doctor’s instructions and not self-administer medications.
The above measures are more effective in people who already have fasting, or elevated postprandial glucose, such as the Daqing study in China, which showed that eating more vegetables, drinking less alcohol, eating less sugar, losing weight in people who are overweight or obese, and increasing daily activity and getting at least 20 minutes of moderate-intensity activity a day reduced the risk of type 2 diabetes by 43% after 6 years of implementing these interventions.