"How Your Lifestyle Can Control Diabetes" - Nini Iyizoba
More than 10 million Nigerians are living with diabetes; a condition which if not well controlled may lead to blindness, kidney failure, limb amputation, heart disease and ultimately death. Diabetes is usually synonymous with high blood sugar number but an even more important number that we should be mindful of when dealing with diabetes is the number on the scale – your weight. In managing diabetes, “The first thing you need to attack is obesity,” said Valentin Fuster, MD, PhD, professor of medicine and cardiology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, director of Mount Sinai Heart, and physician in chief at The Mount Sinai Hospital. Majority of people with Type 2 Diabetes are either overweight or obese, and both of these are major risk factors for heart disease which is a leading cause of death. Studies have shown that majority of premature deaths caused by heart diseases could have been prevented by addressing the treatable risk factors such as obesity.
- Valentin Fuster, MD, PhD, Professor, Medicine, Cardiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Director, Mount Sinai Heart, Physician in Chief, The Mount Sinai Hospital