Diagnosis of Diabetes - An Interview with Dieticians
An Interview with Diabtrend's registered Dieticians about diabetes care, and how DiabTrend can assist with diabetes management
A diagnosis of diabetes can be
overwhelming, with all the do's and don'ts of how to change a lifetime of
habits in order to get the condition under control. In order to provide
assistance to those recently diagnosed with prediabetes or diabetes, we decided
to interview our resident Dieticians, Anna Koszecz, and Dóra Lengyel about
the patient journey. We started by asking them about the process, from the
point of diagnosis onwards; our secondary goal was to highlight the role
Diabtrend can play in Diabetes Management.
Introducing Anna Koszecz
Anna: I’m a
registered dietitian and joined DiabTrend during the pandemic, I've been part
of the team for a little more than a year now.
Previously I worked for 2 years on a
project where we were teaching kids about cooking and healthy eating. I really
liked working there but it ended when the pandemic started. Afterwards, I
worked in a hospital for a short period of time, but I quickly realised that’s not
for me.
I joined DiabTrend because I wanted to be a
part of creating something useful together as a team. My brother is type 1
diabetic, so I know the struggles, and it makes me happy when I see we can help
others living a better and easier life with diabetes.
Introducing
Dóra Lengyel
Dóra: I am
a dietitian and have been working for DiabTrend for a year.
Previously I worked in hospitals and
encountered a wide range of illnesses and gained experience in nutrition
education.
I like to work for DiabTrend because the
mobile app is really useful, and I am sure that it continuously evolves and
provides more and more help to diabetics.
Can you walk
us through the process, what can a newly diagnosed patient expect?
Medical professionals help freshly diagnosed
diabetics to create a proper lifestyle and prevent further complications.
Newly diagnosed patients are admitted to
their local diabetologist (a doctor who specialises in diabetic patients),
where their therapy will be adjusted to their needs and lifestyle. (Their
therapy will depend on whether they were diagnosed with type 1 or type 2
diabetes, what are their current lifestyle and health conditions, whether they
need insulin or not, do they have other risk factors, etc.)
After the doctor's appointment, it’s
advisable to also see a dietitian, as lifestyle changes are probably needed to
have a successful therapy. The dietitian can determine an individual's daily
energy and carbohydrate needs and adjust their nutrition therapy to the
insulin/medication the doctor prescribed previously. To have successful
therapy, the dietitian then provides nutrition education as well.
Is type 2
diabetes entirely a preventable disease?
As type 2 diabetes has both modifiable
(physical inactivity, obesity, diet) and non-modifiable (ethnicity, genetic
predisposition, age) risk factors, we can’t say it’s entirely
preventable.
But according to the UK Society for
Diabetes, more than half of all cases of type 2 diabetes can be prevented or
delayed with the right choices. The most effective intervention is changing
one's lifestyle; including weight loss (if necessary) and dietary
modifications, and increasing physical activity.
We hear a
lot about type 2 diabetes, but what about type 1 diabetes?
Type 1 diabetes is when the body's immune
system destroys insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas and leads to
complete insulin deficiency. This affects about 0.3% of the worldwide
population, making up about 10% of those with diabetes. Appr. 50% of the
diagnoses are made before the age of 15.
Scientists are working on preventing this
process but currently, we are unable to prevent type 1 diabetes.
Is it true that you can only get type 2 diabetes if you are
overweight?
Being overweight is one of the most
significant risk factors, but this doesn’t mean people who have average body
weight can’t develop type 2 diabetes. Around 10-15% of those who have type 2
diabetes, have a healthy body weight. Read more..
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