Incentives for Keeping As Near As Possible ‘Normal’ Blood Glucose Levels

People with diabetes have about twice the risk of developing a range of CVD, compared with those without diabetes [Ref 1].

People with Type 2 diabetes have a two-fold increased risk of stroke within the first five years of diagnosis compared with the general population [Ref 2 & 3].

People with diabetes are 10 to 20 times more likely to go blind than people without diabetes [Ref 4].

People with diabetes are twice as likely to suffer from cataracts or glaucoma as the general population [Ref 5].

Worldwide, the rate of leg amputations in people with diabetes is over 15 times higher than in people without diabetes [Ref 6].

The prevalence of depression is approximately twice as high in people with diabetes as it is in the general population [Ref 7].

Chronic painful neuropathy is estimated to affect about one in six (16.2 per cent of) people with diabetes, compared with one in 20 (4.9 per cent) in the age and sex matched control group [Ref 8].

There are further statistics on other complications, but none that I can easily find that show such an easy comparison between diabetics and non-diabetics and provide such strong incentives for keeping blood glucose levels as near as possible to 'normal' levels. 

For diabetic parents two questions to be answered

1. Do I selfishly satisfy my food pleasures against the known risks for my family?
2. Are those carbs worth it?

References

1. Emerging Risk Factors Collaboration (2010). Diabetes mellitus, fasting blood glucose concentration, and risk of vascular disease: a collaborative meta-analysis of 102 prospective studies. Lancet 375 (9733); 2215–2222
2. Emerging Risk Factors Collaboration (2010). Diabetes mellitus, fasting blood glucose concentration, and risk of vascular disease: a collaborative meta-analysis of 102 prospective studies. Lancet 375 (9733); 2215–2222 
3. Jeerakathil T, Johnson JA, Simpson SH et al (2007). Short-term risk for stroke is doubled in persons with newly treated Type 2 diabetes compared with persons without diabetes: a population based cohort study. Stroke 38 (6); 1739–1743
4. Hamilton AMP, Ulbig MW, Polkinghorne P (1996). Management of diabetic retinopathy, London: BMJ Publishing
5. Ederer F & Taylor HR (1981). Senile lens changes and diabetes in two population studies. American Journal Of Opthalmology, 91, 3, 381–385
6. Boulton AJM. Foot problems in patients with diabetes, in Holt RIG, Cockram CS, Flyvbjerg A et al (ed.) Textbook of diabetes, 4th edition. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell
7. Katon W, von Korff M, Ciechanowski P et al (2004). Behavioral and clinical factors associated with depression among individuals with diabetes. Diabetes Care 27; 914–920
8. Daousi C et al (2004). Chronic painful peripheral neuropathy in an urban community: a controlled comparison of people with and without diabetes. Diabetic Medicine 21 (9); 976–982