Culture and disease Essay

Diabetes is a common chronic disease whereby blood glucose or sugar levels in the blood are too high. Glucose mainly comes from foods that are consumed and by the help of insulin hormone they can get into the body cells to provide energy. Diabetes is classified into two types whereby in type 1 diabetes the body is unable to produce insulin whereby with type two the body does not make insulin or use it well in the body. Therefore, when body lacks enough insulin to convert sugar into energy, the sugars stay in the blood and this leads to the disease condition of diabetes. The two common types of diabetes are type 1 and type II diabetes. The condition mainly affects the old people due to lack of exercise and poor eating habits. Within the Italian community, the most common condition presented is diabetes mellitus but unlike other places in Italy it affects children between the ages of 0-14. Diabetes mellitus occurs when the pancreases is not capable of producing enough insulin which is meant for converting sugar into energy. When the cells are not responding well to the insulin which is produced a disease condition can arise. This leads to lack of absorption of glucose into the cell of the body and therefore high levels of glucose are found in blood. The disease manifest itself in different symptoms such as frequent urination, leathery weigh loss, hunger and excessive thirst. The disease can be controlled by exercising regularly and eating well balanced diet and avoiding a lot of sugary meals. Condition can be treated by administration of insulin so as to convert the excess sugar in the blood to energy so that it can be utilized by the body cell. This condition in severe state it can cause renal failure, heart disease, blindness, and stroke or limb amputation. There is quite a high prevalence rate of diabetes in Italy which is about 3-4% of its population and it increases with age. Most of them have type II which is diabetes mellitus and it occurs mainly at the onset of adulthood. Agent or causative agent of diabetes mellitus in Italy and elsewhere are not known since the disease occurs when the body can not produce insulin properly. Type I mainly occurs in young people whereby islet of langerharn cells stops producing insulin completely. In the report by John (2002), diabetes can also arise as a result of auto immune problem whereby the body turns against its own cells thus damaging them and rendering important processes to take place. Type II mainly affects the old people but it’s also gaining roots in younger generation due to lifestyle i. e. As a result of poor diet and sedentary lifestyle. In this type, the body is unable to utilize insulin in converting blood glucose levels to energy. Other causes of diabetes includes:- – Obesity- This mainly occurs as a result of metabolic syndrome. It occurs as a result of extra energy. – Diabetes can also be caused by excessive chronic stress due to excessive utilization of thoughts. Therefore, the best way to overcome all these causes is by living a healthy lifestyle exercising regularly and being cautious on what you are eating. Diabetes mellitus can also result due to hereditary factor whereby the disease is passed through the generation on families. It can also result due to the environmental factors of the surrounding. In genetic diabetes, these individuals have a common genetic marker Type I can occur as a result of vital infection or other microorganism which damages the islet of langerharns cells in the pancreas. Type II is mainly associated with old age, obesity and genetic factors. Italian population is said to be more vulnerable to diabetes than the rest of the European countries. This is much contributed by their lifestyle and the diet they utilize. One thing in Italy is that almost half of its population are said to be overweight and they are clinically tested and proved to be obese. Obese is one of the factors that caused diabetes. Their stare of obese prevents them from working and living normal life due to the bulkiness of their bodies. Failure to work and live normal life hindered them from obtaining financial help from state to help them fight the condition. There state of obesity is also contributed by their diet since they mainly consume fatty foods which are rich in carbohydrates and therefore they end up accumulating a lot of energy which is not utilized in their bodies leading to obesity (James, Kelly, 2007) [PR] There are quite a number of environmental factors which contributes to diabetes. One major environmental cause of diabetes is persistence organic pollution in the environment and insulin resistance. Around 1940, Italian was quite persistent in the use of DDP pesticide which was quite dangerous to crops for consumption and also human. Even after it was banned it remained in the environment causing more harm to human. They slowly biodegrade and finally enter into the food chain which is finally consumed by human. Therefore, high levels of persistence organic pollutants cause types II diabetes. Environmental contaminant which mainly causes diabetes acts through estrogen receptors which results to disruption of endocrine by the chemicals which are incorporated in pollutants. Due to the industrial activities of Italy these pollutants are quite many within the environment and have resulted to diabetes type II since they hinder utilization of insulin by the cells. The mode of transmission of diabetes underlies some of difference in concordance rate. In Italy one of the major transmission modes is through genetic transmission which is mainly from substantial differences in preference rate of the disease which is mostly present in the same ethnic group and to those people who are under similar environmental burden. Apart from genetic transmission, diabetes can posses the mode of inherited transmission. This is also genetically connected whereby phenotype and pathophysiological levels indicates that genetic compounds are likely to be heterogeneous. Different mode of transmission of diabetes can be evidenced in discrete families and it can act as an overall mode of inheritance. Therefore, diabetes is mainly transmitted through genetic since it’s a hereditary disorder and can be passed from one generation to another within the same family (altha, Edgren, 2007) [PR]. There are quite a number of control methods which are used to control diabetes in Italy. These modes of control can be used to minimize the risk of infection in most prone areas of Italy. The first main control measure is by ensuring that the right diet is consumed foods with high energy context should be avoided such as consumption of a lot of carbohydrates in diet, sugary things, snacks fatty foods, potatoes and other meals which have a lot of energy. These foods can lead to obesity which is one of the major causes of diabetes. Therefore if they are avoided the risk of one being obese is reduced which consequently reduce the prevalence rate of acquiring diabetes. Another control measure which needs to be taken into account and which is less practiced in Italy is exercising regularly. Regular exercise helps to burn excess fats and energy which makes one’s body physically fit. In Italy due to most of the people being overweight they do not exercise regularly and this makes their bodies to retain a lot of energy and therefore they become prone to infection. Regular exercise therefore can be used as a control measure in preventing diabetes among the Italians. Exercising healthy lifestyles is also another thing that can help in the control of diabetes this is mostly encouraged in those families who have a life history of diabetes since by doing so they minimize the risks of inheriting disease from their relatives. Government of Italy can also come in to ensure that the danger posed to its citizens of acquitting diabetes as a result of harmful environmental effects like the use of DDP. Therefore, government should ban the use of such chemicals which are harmful to human life and also to ecosystem at large. The main treatment methods used for curing and maintaining diabetes at minimum are change in diet, administration of oral medicine, and in other cases daily injection or insulin or Byetta are mainly used to improve insulin concentration in the blood so that it can convert excess glucose in the blood to energy so that it can be utilized by the cells. Apart from these medicines in most of the routine hospitals in Italy they use acarbose and metform which are known to reduce the disease prevalence in the country by increasing the levels of insulin in the blood. They also use sulfonylurea and combination of different drugs in treating diabetes. These form of treatment resulted to different complication among those who were treated. These complications ranged from mild to severe complications such as diabetic retinopathy, diabetic neuropathy, coronary artery disease, and nephropathy and obstatic arteriopathy of lower limbs. This showed that the medication had vast adverse effect on the health of patient which did not cure the disease but brought about more complication to patients. In determining the social and cultural influences of diabetes in Italy, anthropological methodology was employed which signified that:- – They came up with ways of breaking the social network providing support of young people and this contrasted greatly with the ideas of health cares that held conferences, meeting and social support networks. – Diabetes patients were excluded at any age without minding about their development they were categorized by age and not individual ability and preference. – People were encouraged to take care of themselves at an early age which ensured that they were separated from the family and peer. According to Italian population, they considered the type of treatment offered inconvenient and mostly since it was associated with so many side effects to most of the patient who treatment was administered to and acted well on a very small percentage of patients. Therefore, patients in Italy do not believe that there is effective medication for diabetes and hence they opt for just natural ways of curing the diseases i. e. by use of diet exercising. Therefore since statistics shows that there is quite high prevalence rate of diabetes in Italy as a result of poor diet and lack of exercise. The country need to come up with ways of minimizing this incidence rate since their treatment methods are not quite effective and they end up causing move harm to patients. Reference: Altha Robert, Edgren Ken R, (2007), The Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine, (vol 5) Jacqueline L. Longe Ed 3 Detroit, Gale on line update. Anne Dornhorst Gary Frost, Robert Mosses, (2003), Nutritional Management of Diabetes Mellitus, New York: John Willey and Son. James Enger, Kelly, (July-August 2007), Dangerous diabetes obesity connections on How to reduce your Risks now, ‘’vibrant life’’: 6-11.