The way to decrease the risk of the onset of the disease over the years
14th November 2017 – Diabetes affects 4 million Italians, with a cost to the National Health System of between 10 and 12 billion euros per year. “A problem that must be addressed from conception” for the professor Paolo Pozzilli, Professor of Endocrinology and Diabetology ofUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, which - on the occasion of the day dedicated in a special way to expectant mothers with altered blood sugar levels, to early diagnosis of diabetes, as well as the therapy of the same during pregnancy – he explains: “The goal must be to protect the unborn child from the risk of developing diabetes during his life, because it has been seen that if he is exposed to high levels of maternal blood sugar , his insulin-producing beta-cells will be affected throughout his life, exposing him more to contracting diabetes".
The expert's recommendation is therefore that "when the mother knows she is diabetic or discovers that she is at risk of diabetes during pregnancy, measures must be taken to strictly control blood sugar, to prevent the unborn child from - already in the uterus – be exposed to high blood sugar values of the mother: this condition determines an increased production of insulin in the unborn child. We know, in fact, that the cells that produce insulin in the conceived, if excessively stimulated by the maternal blood sugar, predispose him over the years to an increased risk of diabetes”.
In the world it is estimated that there are 199 million women with diabetes. But their number is projected to reach 313 million in 2040. Role differences and power inequalities inherent in gender dynamics make women even more vulnerable to diabetes, impact their access to health services and their ability to undertake healthy lifestyle habits. And diabetes is in ninth place among the causes of death for women: 2,1 million deaths every year (source: Diabete Italia).
