Today November 14, the World Diabetes Day, with the intention of raising awareness about a disease that has increased markedly in recent years characterized by high blood glucose levels.
In Spain, 14% of the population has diabetes, including young and pregnant children, although in the latter it is a transient diabetes that disappears after delivery.
This year, the motto focuses on the "Prevention and Education in Diabetes", two fundamental pillars to prevent the disease from developing and in the case of having already done so, prevent any complications.
Type 1 diabetes is one of the most frequent chronic diseases in childhood. More and more children under five are diagnosed with this disease.
There are numerous risk factor's which are linked to the onset of the disease, among them, the excessive promptness with which cow's milk protein is introduced into the diet of children, childhood obesity and sedentary lifestyle, as well as factors related to pregnancy and childbirth such as viral infections suffered by the mother in pregnancy, advanced maternity ages, the greatest birth weight and the practice of caesarean section.
He early diagnostic It is essential to find the most appropriate treatment, so it is important to recognize the symptoms to detect diabetes in young children. They are usually confusing, so when in doubt, it is better to prevent and perform the necessary tests to confirm or not the diagnosis.
As for pregnant women, they run the risk of suffering from gestational diabetes, a type of diabetes related to excessive weight gain before or during pregnancy and that can lead to complications during pregnancy or childbirth. The best way to prevent it is to eat a varied diet, exercise, go to all prenatal controls and control excessive weight gain.
Mobile applications, a great help
One of the new features that stand out this year on the occasion of World Diabetes Day is the great help that mobile applications suppose in the control and prevention of the disease.
All kinds of applications have been developed, free and paid, in different languages and available for all types of devices. We can find from blood glucose meters or glucometers to complete and individualized software with control of the food that has been taken, the exercise that has been performed and even the degree of stress that is suffered.
To really be a help, it is important that the diabetic is always well informed about its use and supervised by a professional who recommends the most appropriate applications according to their needs.
