Obesity, Diabetes and the Thrifty Gene

Abstract

What is diabetes? Diabetes is a disease. According to WHO: Diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs either when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces. Insulin is a hormone that regulates blood sugar. Hyperglycaemia, or raised blood sugar, is a common effect of uncontrolled diabetes and over time leads to serious damage to many of the body's systems, especially the nerves and blood vessels 1. The CDC's National Diabetes Fact Sheet (2007) defines diabetes in this way: Diabetes is a group of diseases marked by high levels of blood glucose resulting from defects in insulin production, insulin action, or both. Diabetes can lead to serious complications and premature death, but people with diabetes can take steps to control the disease and lower the risk of complications 2. The scientific community recognizes three types of diabetes. The first type of diabetes, Type 1 diabetes, previously known as insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) or juvenile-onset or childhood diabetes, is characterized by defects in insulin production and requires daily insulin injections. Type 1 diabetes accounts for 5 to 10 % of all diagnosed cases of diabetes among the adults. The type two diabetes, Type 2 diabetes, previously also called non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) or adult-onset diabetes, results from the inability of the body to use insulin effectively. In adults Type 2 diabetes account for about 90 to 95% The third type is gestational, a form of glucose intolerance diagnosed during pregnancy. Other types of diabetes result from specific genetic conditions, surgery, infections and other illness. Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus is increasing worldwide, especially in population transitioning from traditional to modern lifestyle such as South India 3 and Taiwan 4. Prevalence and incidence of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus are highest among the adults, but it is increasingly affecting also young people. The impact of diabetes on a person's lifestyle is progressive over time, beginning with the body's cells being resistant to insulin-mediated glucose uptake. Eventually, the pancreas cannot sustain the high insulin production level needed for glucose uptake and insulin levels drop. In November 2009 WHO declared that in 2005, an estimated 1.1 million people died from diabetes, more than 220 million people worldwide have diabetes, almost 80% of diabetes deaths occur in low-and middle-income countries, Almost half of diabetes deaths occur in people under the age of seventy years; 55% of diabetes deaths are in women and projections of diabetes deaths will double between 2005 and 2030. 5

Perspectivism, Mortuary Symbolism, and Human-Shark Relationships on the Maritime Peninsula

“…Soon after, Levi-Strauss (1962:222) suggested that traditional conceptualizations of animals were essentially a projected "mirror" of the human world (see Mullin 1999Mullin ,2002. Put simply, these concepts suggest that by signifying animals in ritual contexts, people are signifying something about themselves (e.g., Busatta 2008;Fowler 2004;Mullin 2002). Often, this approach leads to a semiotic/structuralist analysis that views animal symbolism through the lenses of anomaly (how symbolic animals are intrinsically "different" from non-symbolic animals) and metaphor (how animal behaviors or traits reflect human behaviors and social systems).…”