In my last post, I have discussed in length about a few important laboratory tests related to diabetes and hypertension. It is important to note that few conditions like Obesity, Hypothyroidism add fuel to the fire created by diabetes and hypertension. The sugar we consume gets converted to glycogen and is stored in the liver and fatty tissues surrounding the organs in the abdomen to be used for future use to produce energy, say during workouts like exercising, walking, etc. So, if we consume a lot of sugary and fatty foods and do not exercise, these get accumulated in the liver and abdominal fats till a point where there is no space to store it and circulates freely in the blood. This gets reflected in our blood tests as raised blood sugar and cholesterol. Raised blood sugar has adverse effects on different parts of our body by a mechanism called microangiopathy [disease of small blood vessels called capillaries supplying blood to organs like eyes,brain,kidneys,heart etc.] causing conditions such as retinopathy[in eyes leading to blindness],nephropathy[in kidneys leading to kidney failure],stroke [in brain leading to paralysis] or cardiomyopathy [in the heart leading to heart failure or heart attack]. Raised blood cholesterol has similar effects with fatty liver in addition.
Can we prevent these conditions? The picture below will show what we can and what we cannot do:-
Regular exercise and a proper diet along with medications, regular blood checkups and visits to your family physician can control the after-effects of both diabetes and hypertension.
Having said this, I will discuss how one should exercise and what one can eat in diabetes and hypertension in my next post. If you have any doubts or queries, be free to do so in the add comment section. I will gladly reply to your queries and help you lead a better life.