This blog post is about the connection between heart disease and diabetes
The Connection Between Heart Disease and Diabetes
“While overall mortality rates of coronary heart disease have been declining in the U.S., the number of CHD deaths in the diabetic population has escalated as the prevalence of the disease has increased (https://www.joslin.org).”
This is an ever escalating health problem as more of the population is becoming pre-diabetic /diabetic with Type II diabetes.
Let's look at the relationship between blood sugar and insulin and why it’s important. Then focusing on the United States and its population we will take a look at how heart disease is connected with diabetes and vise versa.
Why if one person is at risk for one disease they are likely more susceptible to the other.
California
When we think of California, we typically think of health. Think again.
In the state of California, cardiovascular disease accounts for one in three of all deaths in the state. The majority of deaths were from heart disease and stroke. This makes cardiovascular disease related death the third leading cause of death in California (https://www.cdph.ca.gov/).
A Preventable Disease
Nearly half of California adults are pre-diabetic or undiagnosed diabetic (http://healthpolicy.ucla.edu). The incidences of cardiovascular disease is affected and increased if one is pre-diabetic or diabetic.
This is important to understand because almost all Type II diabetes can be prevented with lifestyle changes, such as diet and exercise.
Understanding The Importance of Glucose Balance
To better understand how to prevent Type II diabetes, let’s look at blood sugar and insulin. Blood sugar also known as glucose is sugar in your blood. Your cells need energy and it gets it from glucose. When you eat food, your body breaks down the carbohydrates in your food and turns it into glucose. Then your pancreas releases insulin to escort the glucose into the cells for energy.
Too Much is Bad
Think of insulin as the gatekeeper for your cells to receive glucose, the energy it needs to function. If you have a high carbohydrate diet, the cells in the body will then reject the extra glucose from entering. However, the extra glucose is then stored in the body for later, usually in the liver and belly fat. When you have an excess amount of carbs, this can lead to excess insulin, which then leads to insulin resistance, also known as pre-diabetic.
So How Is Diabetes Related to Heart Disease?
The reason diabetes can often times be related to heart disease is because many of the "bad" lifestyle choices that lead to diabetes is also the cause for heart disease. A diet full of simple carbohydrates and trans fats causes build up in the arteries because it causes blood cells to stick together and form clots. Sticky stuff will accumulate in the endothelium where our body makes its own medicine, preventing the body from proper maintenance.
When the body is out of balance and cannot deliver the proper nutrition, energy, and medicines because of poor cardiovascular health do to bad diet and lack of exercise, it also increases the risks of Type II diabetes. Type II diabetes is also caused by an excess of carbohydrates from a poor diet that turns into excess glucose and insulin. Glucose builds up if the body isn’t using it which would also be do to lack of exercise.
Being overweight is usually an indication of poor nutrition and lack of exercise which superficially is an indication of one’s risk of Type II diabetes and heart disease. By exercising and eating a diet full of real foods, especially whole fruits, vegetables, and seafood, the body is able to continue to keep the blood flowing freely, avoid sticky stuff from building up, and allows for the endothelium to dispense the right medicines at the right time and correct dosage while the arteries are wide open. This creates a healthier and better quality of life. With the increase of Type II diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, it’s important to understand how changing lifestyle habits can prevent these two epidemics in the health system.
Sources
https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CCDPHP/DCDIC/CDCB/Pages/HeartDiseasePrevention.aspx
http://healthpolicy.ucla.edu/publications/search/pages/detail.aspx?PubID=1472
