Beware! Eating too fast increases the risk of diabetes

Recently, the topic "Eating too fast increases the risk of diabetes" has become a hot search.

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Studies have shown that people who eat fast are three times more likely to develop diabetes than normal people. This is because:

5. If you eat too fast, your brain won’t have time to send out a “full” signal, and you’ll eat more easily.
6. If you eat too fast, your blood sugar level will fluctuate greatly, which will damage the pancreatic function responsible for stabilizing blood sugar. This can easily lead to diabetes, so it is recommended to eat at least 20 to 30 minutes for each meal.

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So besides eating fast being more likely to cause diabetes, what other risks are there? And how can we prevent diabetes?

Today, let’s take a systematic look at diabetes.

Too long to read

Factors that may lead to diabetes:

Obesity, high blood lipids, lack of sleep, irregular work and rest, drinking sweet drinks, eating too fast, smoking

How to prevent:

Monitor blood sugar regularly, develop good work and rest habits, and don’t put too much pressure on yourself

What is diabetes?

Diabetes is a metabolic disease characterized by high blood sugar. Typical clinical manifestations include "three mores and one less" (polyuria, polydipsia, polyphagia, and weight loss), fatigue, weakness, and blurred vision.

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The diagnosis is mainly based on blood sugar. If the fasting blood sugar is ≥7.0mmol/L, or the blood sugar is ≥11.1mmol/L 2 hours after a meal, it can be diagnosed as diabetes. Glycated hemoglobin ≥6.5% can also be diagnosed as diabetes.

Some people may think, isn’t it just that the blood becomes sweeter? This is a very dangerous idea! If blood sugar is not well controlled, it can lead to acute and chronic complications such as ketoacidosis, blindness, diabetic foot (severe cases can lead to amputation), stroke, and renal failure.

To control diabetes, comprehensive management is needed, including patient education, blood sugar monitoring, diet control, exercise therapy, and drug therapy.

Is the prevalence of diabetes high among Chinese people?

Not only is it high, it is getting higher! The prevalence rate was 9.7% in 2010, 10.4% in 2013, 11.2% in 2017, and 12.8% in 2020.

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On April 28, 2020, the British Medical Journal, an internationally recognized medical journal, published an epidemiological study by academician Ning Guang and other scholars, which showed that the prevalence of diabetes among Chinese adults has risen to 12.8%, and the prevalence of prediabetes is as high as 35.2%. This means that nearly half of Chinese people have abnormal blood sugar levels.

Are young people more likely to get diabetes?

Don’t think that only middle-aged and elderly people will get diabetes. According to the research data of Academician Ning Guang, 20.2% of people aged 18-29 in China are in the pre-diabetes stage, and more than 40% of people over 40 are in the pre-diabetes stage.

Unfortunately, compared with the elderly who know more about their own illnesses, most young people do not understand their own health conditions and lack effective lifestyle interventions or drug treatments.

Who is at greater risk of developing diabetes?

Some people may ask, is it easy to get diabetes if you eat too much sugar? In fact, this is not the case. The following factors will increase the risk of diabetes:

Risk 1: Obesity

A 14.7-year follow-up study of 10,000 people showed that obesity is a much greater risk factor for type 2 diabetes than genetics and lifestyle. The risk of type 2 diabetes in obese people is 5.81 times that of normal-weight people, while genetics doubles the risk of diabetes.

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Risk 2: High blood lipids

Research published at the 2019 European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) Annual Meeting found that signs of diabetes in adults appear as early as age 8. Lipid metabolism disorders, represented by a decrease in HDL-C, are one of the earliest manifestations of type 2 diabetes.

Don’t ignore dyslipidemia just because you are young. Early detection and intervention of these abnormal indicators will help reduce the risk of diabetes.

Risk 3: Drinking sweet drinks and pure fruit juice

A study published in Diabetes Care in 2019 was the first to show an association between the intake of sweetened drinks, such as carbonated drinks and fruit juice, and type 2 diabetes.

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A 26-year follow-up of nearly 200,000 people found that whether it is sugary drinks, 100% pure fruit juice, or sugar-free drinks, they will increase the risk of diabetes , and the more you drink, the higher the risk.

Risk 4: Lack of sleep

By studying the sleep data of young and middle-aged women, it was found that maintaining a constant sleep pattern of 7 to 8 hours can reduce the risk of women developing type 2 diabetes compared with a continuous sleep pattern of 5 to 6 hours.

Risk 5: Eating too fast

The study found that fast eaters had a higher risk of developing diabetes compared to the non-fast eaters group, and eating too fast is an independent risk factor for diabetes.

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Risk 6: Smoking

Smoking increases the risk of diabetes, and studies have found that this is related to insulin secretion mediated by the TCF7L2 transcription factor.

How to prevent and treat diabetes

1. Regular work and rest schedule

Numerous studies have shown that the secretion of hormones such as glucagon has a circadian rhythm under physiological conditions. Irregular work and rest schedules can cause a disruption in the body's biological clock, which can lead to diabetes. Getting the biological clock back in order can help control diabetes.

2. Diet and lose weight

**Controlling your weight can reverse diabetes to a certain extent. **When you are obese, the fat accumulated around the pancreas will hinder the pancreatic beta cells, causing them to stop producing enough insulin, which will lead to uncontrolled blood sugar levels. After adjusting your diet and losing fat, the pancreas will resume its normal function.

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3. Quit smoking

The risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases in diabetic patients is 2 to 4 times that of non-diabetic people, and quitting smoking can reduce this risk.

Studies have found that non-smokers have a 41% lower risk of cardiovascular disease than smokers; compared with diabetic patients who have always smoked, those who have recently quit smoking (quit smoking for 2-6 years) can reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease by 17%, and the benefits of long-term smoking cessation (more than 6 years) will become more obvious as time accumulates.

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4. High dietary fiber

A fiber-rich diet can regulate intestinal flora, which is beneficial to blood sugar control in patients with type 2 diabetes and also helps control weight and blood lipids.

Author: Duan Honggang, attending physician of the Department of Endocrinology, Liaocheng People's Hospital, Shandong Province

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