DeepSummary
In this podcast episode, Professor Naveed Sattar discusses type 2 diabetes, a widespread and rapidly growing crisis. He explains that blood sugar needs to be regulated by insulin to prevent damage to organs and tissues. Many people have prediabetes or diabetes without even realizing it due to a lack of obvious symptoms initially.
The rise in diabetes is attributed to factors like increased weight gain, leading to fat accumulation in organs like the liver, and a sedentary lifestyle. Risks vary based on factors like gender, ethnicity, and muscle mass. Sattar emphasizes the importance of maintaining a healthy weight, being physically active, and controlling blood sugar through lifestyle changes to prevent or even reverse diabetes.
While new drugs show promise, Sattar stresses the need for a comprehensive approach that addresses the underlying environmental and lifestyle factors contributing to the diabetes epidemic. He encourages listeners to assess their risk, get tested if necessary, and take proactive steps to improve their health.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- Type 2 diabetes is a widespread and rapidly growing crisis, with many people unaware they have the condition due to a lack of initial symptoms.
- Maintaining a healthy weight, being physically active, and controlling blood sugar through lifestyle changes can help prevent or even reverse type 2 diabetes.
- Risk factors for type 2 diabetes include excess weight, fat accumulation in organs like the liver, sedentary lifestyle, genetics, ethnicity, and gender.
- High blood sugar levels can damage various organs and tissues, including the eyes, kidneys, and nerves, by altering protein function.
- New drug treatments show promise in managing diabetes, but a comprehensive approach addressing environmental and societal factors is needed.
- Individual variations in the relationship between weight gain and blood sugar levels exist, influenced by factors like family history, emphasizing the need for personalized approaches.
- Delaying the onset of diabetes can minimize potential long-term damage caused by high blood sugar levels, particularly for older individuals.
- Overcoming misconceptions about the causes of type 2 diabetes and addressing stigma are essential for effective prevention and management.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “So when sugar becomes. Levels become very high in the blood, it starts to stick to lots of our bodily proteins and changes their function and makes them abnormal. So, for example, some of the damage that happens in the eye is because the sugar, at very high levels starts to stick. So lots of proteins are relevant to aspects of our eye function and disrupts it.“ by Naveed Sattar
- “So now, in some respects, I wish we didn't need to have those tools because I wish we could change the environment, make it easier for people to live easier lives, because it's not easy changing your diet, it's not easy becoming more physically active. We talked about it and we have to overcome waste stigma. We have to talk about helping people navigate the environment that they live in.“ by Naveed Sattar
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Episode Information
ZOE Science & Nutrition
ZOE
3/21/24
In today’s episode, we’re talking about a disease so widespread that it touches nearly every family in some way: type 2 diabetes. It’s not just a health issue, it's a rapidly expanding crisis. And many people don’t know that they have it.
In the U.S. alone, 100 million people have prediabetes, and more than 37 million have type 2 diabetes, a chronic condition with life-altering effects.
Prof. Naveed Sattar joins us to shed light on preventing, treating, and potentially reversing type 2 diabetes.
Naveed is a medical doctor and Professor of Metabolic Medicine at the Institute of Cardiovascular & Medical Sciences at the University of Glasgow. He’s one of the world’s top 1% most cited clinical scientists, and he’s worked on many clinical trials of lifestyle changes and drugs to prevent and manage diabetes.
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Timecodes:
00:00 Introduction
01:00 Topic introduction
02:28 Quick fire questions
05:33 What is blood sugar and why does it matter?
07:15 What is insulin and what is its relation to blood sugar and diabetes?
08:48 Why doesn't the body allow sugar to increase in the blood?
10:45 What happens when somebody gets pre-diabetes or type 2?
14:34 What is HBA1C?
17:08 Why has there been such an increase in diabetes?
23:05 How does muscle mass have any impact on diabetes?
24:54 Are risks different between men and women?
27:08 How does ethnicity come into this?
31:04 What other personal risk factors are there?
32:29 What are the symptoms of diabetes?
33:53 When do these symptoms begin?
35:09 What should you do if you have concerns?
36:33 How to find out your own likelihood of risk
38:34 How can we avoid getting diabetes?
42:10 How can we combat genetic risk factors?
44:26 Is it possible to lower blood sugar and reverse the effects of diabetes?
47:18 What is the science behind the new drugs coming on the market?
49:20 Summary
53:39 Outro
Mentioned in today’s episode:
- Primary care-led weight management for remission of type 2 diabetes (DiRECT): An open-label, cluster-randomised trial in The Lancet
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Episode transcripts are available here.