Diabetics now younger!

Filipino diabetics are getting younger.

This was disclosed recently by Dr. Maryann Lim-Abraham of the Philippine Lipid Society who said that five years ago, her patients were aged 40 to 50 but now, they are mostly teenagers.

Abraham said the number of young diabetics in the country is rising mainly because of their unhealthy lifestyles. Most of her patients were reportedly overweight.

She also confirmed that when a mother is diabetic, her child is 80 to 90 percent more likely to develop diabetes, particularly when the child weighs more than eight pounds.

"Diabetes is a lifetime disease and as one gets older or as his weight increases, his chances of having diabetes also becomes greater," she said.

She noted that 75 percent of diabetics die because of cardiovascular diseases. Medical experts are urging the public to refrain from S.E.X. or Smoking, overEating and eXercise-lack.

This she said, will help prevent diabetes and other lifestyle or degenerative diseases like cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, cancer and dyslipidemia (abnormal level of cholesterol in the body).

Some of the symptoms of diabetes are urinating excessively, severe thirst, sudden weight loss, lethargy and fatigue. It is also possible that one will never get to experience these symptoms but once the disease is detected, complications have already occurred. — Ella Oducayen