2023-10-11 12:40:00
Around seven million people in Germany live with diabetes mellitus. And there are more and more: around 500,000 adults come every year a study by the Robert Koch Institute emerges. Most of the time it is type 2 diabetes mellitus, which can be easily treated with lifestyle changes and medication. But there are also more and more cases of “double diabetes”.
What is Double Diabetes? Double illness on the rise
This is a dangerous combination of type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease. As a result, the body produces significantly too little insulin or no insulin at all. The hormone is normally responsible for transporting sugar, glucose, from the blood into our cells. If there is a lack of insulin, glucose accumulates and blood sugar levels rise. To combat this, type 1 diabetics have to inject themselves with insulin regularly throughout their lives.
In type 2 diabetes, the body usually has enough insulin but cannot use it properly. The hormone loses its effect. So what happens when both types of diabetes collide? “Insulin is essential for people with type 1 diabetes. If type 2 diabetes is added to this, this insulin, which is essential for survival, can no longer dock properly. This can have dramatic consequences,” explains physiologist Othmar Moser from the University of Bayreuth in conversation with inFranken.de.
In addition to his work as a professor of sports medicine, Moser is also the head of sports physiology Diabetes outpatient clinic at the University Hospital Graz. He is seeing cases of double diabetes more and more frequently. The double illness is extremely dangerous for those affected and can be fatal. Because if insulin no longer works properly in type 1 diabetics, blood sugar rises to the point of metabolic derailment. A condition called ketoacidosis can lead to a diabetic coma and is life-threatening.
Treating double diabetes: This is what patients need to keep in mind
It is therefore particularly important that double diabetes is recognized and treated in a timely manner. According to Moser, the signs are quite clear. “You notice this when people inject three, four or five times the amount of insulin, but eat the same thing as usual,” said the researcher. He recommends anti-diabetic drugs and insulin as therapy – but also a change in lifestyle. Targeted physical training, “practically exercise on prescription,” is necessary as well as one special diet. In practice, intermittent fasting or a low-fat diet have proven to be particularly effective. However, the expert advises against a “low carb” diet, i.e. little or no carbohydrates.
Book tip on Amazon: Healthy and slim through intermittent fasting – with recipes and weekly plans
“It’s about sensitizing the body to insulin again,” says Moser. In some cases, type 2 diabetes can be cured with a short duration of illness. This usually takes three to five years. However, a lifelong change is required to prevent double diabetes from recurring. Type 2 can also be hereditary, but it is more often caused by an unhealthy lifestyle. Poor nutrition, lack of exercise, being overweight – all of this promotes insulin resistance.
Regular exercise and a conscious diet are particularly important for type 1 diabetics. However, making a permanent change to your lifestyle is often easier said than done. “Many people prefer to take medication rather than exercise, regardless of whether they have an illness or not,” summarizes Moser.
Diabesity: Why being overweight often leads to type 2 diabetes
In the course of this, the scientist sees another double disease on the rise: diabetes. The term is made up of the English words for diabetes and obesity. According to this, overweight people have… national diabetes information portal more than three times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes.
Moser speaks of a real “vicious circle”: Obesity causes systemic inflammation, chronic inflammation in the body. This reduces the effectiveness of insulin, but at the same time there is an increased need for energy. The liver produces more sugar, which in the long term “breaks down” the receptors for insulin. The result is diabetes.
But diabetes can also be treated with targeted sporting activity and a change in diet, as Moser knows from practice. “There haven’t been any patients for whom we haven’t found anything – even with many serious comorbidities,” said the diabetes expert. Treaters are now relying more and more on individualized therapies that are tailored to the needs of patients.
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