Source: Mashud Zakaria
If you think diabetes is common only among adults, then you are mistaken. Research shows that infants, right from conception risk developing Type 1 diabetes, also known as insulin-dependent diabetes.
The World Health Organization estimates that 90-95 per cent of children under 16 years have type 1diabetes. But over the last three decades, there has been a threefold increase in reported cases of childhood diabetes worldwide and it is feared that the situation might get out of hand if the necessary public education on the disease is not upped.
Type 1 diabetes results from autoimmune destruction of insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas. The subsequent lack of insulin leads to increased blood and urine glucose. Because the pancreas has stopped producing insulin, a hormone needed to process glucose taken from food and the body literally starves. The common symptoms- Hunger, weight loss and fatigue, are consequences of the organs not getting the glucose they need to function properly. Frequent urination and thirst occurs for the body does all it can to get rid of the excess glucose by dumping it into the bladder.
In Ghana, the situation is not very different. A Medical Superintendent at the Ashaiman Polyclinic, Dr. Jarvis Abilla said the facility records five to ten suspected cases of type 1 diabetes per month; a situation he described as ‘alarming’. Such cases are referred to regional and general hospitals for diagnosis and treatment since the facility is not equipped enough to handle such cases.
Dr. Abilla explained that type 1 diabetes is as common as type 2 diabetes and the symptoms are very much alike. But one peculiar sign of the disease that can be detected at an early stage is when expected mothers with big abdomen give birth to very ‘tiny’ babies.
He stressed that if such a condition is not managed early on detection, a diabetic wound or diabetic foot ulcer may develop. He explained that such a wound is commonly seen on the soles of approximately 15 percent of patients with diabetes. Of those who develop foot ulcer, six percent are likely to be hospitalized due to infection or other ulcer-related complications. Consequently, such conditions may end up in amputation.
WHO also estimates that 50% of people with type 1 diabetes die of cardiovascular diseases, 2% become blind and 10% develop severe visual impairment.
Dr. Abilla said, in the long run, type 1 diabetes is generally fatal unless treated with insulin. Though injection is the most common method of administering insulin, Dr. Abilla explained insulin pumps and inhaled insulin have been available at various times. But some experts link the development of type 1 diabetes to breastfeeding habits among nursing mothers.
They contend that infant formula may directly affect the chances of type 1 diabetes in children as they contain a base of hard-to-digest cow milk and that infants who had an earlier introduction of complex proteins, that is cow milk infant formula, grain cereals and fruits had a fifty per cent higher risk of developing B cell autoimmunity from which type 1 diabetes develops.
They argued that though it is suggested that the best way to avoid type 1diabetes is to breast-feed infants for the first year of life, they noted that infants given hydrolysed formula, or pre-digested formula, had a lower risk of developing type 1 diabetes. In this formula, the proteins have already been broken down and are easier to digest.
However, Dr. Abilla dismissed such assertion describing it as highly ‘hypothetical’. He said the development of type 1 diabetes is induced by a combination of several ‘complicated’ factors such as ‘genetic susceptibility, lifestyle’, use of unprescribed drugs likely to destroy the pancreas, among others.
But that is not all about type 1 diabetes. A worrying situation is the method of milk delivery to infants. Glass bottles or plastic baby bottles used to breastfeed infants as well as mode of preparation and preservation of baby formula also predispose children to type 1diabetes.
Dr. Abilla suggested that type 1 diabetes can be managed not only by relying on insulin. Mild exercises, psychological help and proper dieting can also help mitigate the severity of the disease. He advocated a Diabetes Fund to cater for the education and treatment of diabetes.
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