Infographic: Defeating the Effects of Diabetes

The following guest post was submitted by Union Quay Medical Centre.

Did you know that approximately 5% of the world’s population suffers from diabetes? This equates to 347 million, which is more than the populations of every country in the world except China and India. In an even more alarming development, the World Health Organization expects that the total number of deaths from diabetes will more than double within the next 10 years.

Union Quay Medical Centre in Ireland created this eye-opening infographic about the effects of diabetes. It demystifies a number of common misconceptions about diabetes, outlines symptoms and causes, and also offers helpful advice on how to tackle Type 2 diabetes, which affects 90%-95% of all diabetes sufferers and can be prevented with a series of lifestyle changes.

You may have heard in some quarters that women with diabetes should not get pregnant, or that gestational diabetes will disappear after a woman gives birth. In truth, women who manage diabetes effectively can have a normal childbirth, but gestational diabetes is unfortunately more likely to occur for both mother and child.

Other myths that this infographic hopes to debunk is that people can get off lightly with ‘a little bit’ of diabetes, and that diabetes sufferers cannot donate blood. They can give blood if the diabetes is controlled. As for having ‘a little bit’ of diabetes, this is a total lie. Anyone with the condition stands a high chance of developing further complications.

Read through the infographic below to discover more surprising facts about diabetes, a condition that has sadly become a global epidemic.