Diabetes and Native Americans

To clearly understand what diabetes is, we first need to know the normal process of the breakdown of food by the body to produce energy. When food is digested, glucose, which is the major source of energy for the body, enters into the bloodstream ("Diabetes: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia", 2017). Insulin is a hormone in the body, produced in the pancreas, which moves glucose to the muscles, and liver cells as well as converts it to fat so that it can be used as fuel or stored. The reason diabetic people have a high level of sugar in their blood is that their bodies cannot move the glucose from the bloodstream into the muscles for storage or to the cells to be oxidized to energy, or because there is too much glucose made by the liver and released into the bloodstream ("Diabetes: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia", 2017).

This condition could be caused either by the inability of the body to produce enough insulin or an abnormal response of the cells to insulin or both. Diabetes statistics Prevalence 30. 3 million People in America had diabetes in 2015. About 1. 25 million people have type 1 diabetes (diabetes. org). 79,535 death certificates showed diabetes to be the underlying death cause. 252,806 death certificates showed diabetes as a contributing or underlying death cause. Diabetes in Youth 0. 24% of Americans under 20 years of age have been diagnosed with diabetes. Between 2011 and 2012, 17900 people of this age were diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and 5300 with T2D (diabetes. “In some American Indian and Alaska Native communities, diabetes prevalence among adults is as high as 60%” (McLaughlin, 2010). One out of every six Native Americans has been diagnosed with diabetes, which is more than twice the general U.

S. population prevalence. The main factors that contribute to the high diabetes rates among Native Americans are environmental, behavioral and genetic factors. Sugar causes the release of dopamine in the brain, the good-feel hormone that is responsible for addiction. This causes one to get addicted to sugary foods to such an extent that they cannot stop craving them (Hughes, 2018). Candies or cookies with high sugar content can give a quick energy burst because it raises the levels of sugar in the blood very fast. When the level falls as the cells absorb sugar, one feels anxious and jittery in what is called the sugar crash. High sugar intake causes depression in adults (Hughes, 2018). This can cause stress to the heart and damage it, causing strokes and heart attacks and diseases.

Research also shows that consumption of less sugar can reduce blood pressure, which is a major risk factor in heart disease (Hughes, 2018). A lot of sugar intake means that a lot of it will be converted to fats for storage, resulting in overweight and obesity. (ronin-fit. blogspot. Effects of Insulin Injections on the Body The primary purpose of insulin and its analogs is to regulate the process of breakdown of glucose. It reduces the level of sugar in the blood by stimulating the uptake of glucose by fact cells and the muscles, inhibiting glucose production in the liver. Insulin injections have some possible side effects on the body. These include hypoglycemia, hyperglycemia, skin reactions and weight gain. Insulin dosage depends on the person’s average intake of food.