Eating junk food, having a poor diet, being overweight may lead to diabetes, these are things you already know. What you don't know is that fast eating can also be a risk factor for type 2 diabetes.
Fast eating is linked with new onset of diabetes
Researchers from Fukushima Medical University investigated the relationship between eating speed as well as other bad eating habits and new onset of diabetes in a nation-wide Japanese cohort, and did questionnaire surveys among 197,825 participants without diabetes in 2008.
Compared with people who did not develop diabetes:
—Fast eaters and those who snack after supper, snack before sleep, and skip breakfast are more likely to develop new-onset diabetes.
Compared with people who were not fast eaters:
—Fast eaters were generally younger.
—Fast eaters had higher BMI.
—Fast eaters had more weight gain from 20 years onwards.
—Fast eaters experienced frequent weight fluctuations of ≥3 kg within 1 year.
The study shows that fast eating is a sole factor among eating habits for new-onset diabetes. And future studies are needed to evaluate whether avoidance of fast eating is beneficial for prevention of diabetes.
What can lead to fast eating
It has been reported that workplace stress can increase the likelihood of fast eating.
Job stress is often accompanied by a change in eating behaviors including fast eating, eating beyond the point of a full stomach, surrogate meals or overeating, and increased calorie intake.
Why fast eating can cause diabetes
First, eating faster reduces energy consumption after meals.
Second, when the time for mastication is reduced, glucose and insulin concentrations are significantly higher between 90 and 240 minutes after mastication.
What is type 2 diabetes
Type 2 diabetes is the most common type of diabetes. It is estimated that there are about 27 million people in the U.S. with it. And 86 million have prediabetes, which means they have abnormal blood glucose, but their glucose is not high enough to be diabetes yet.
Common signs and symptoms include:
—Being cranky
—Being thirsty
—Blurry vision
—Feeling worn out
—Peeing a lot
—Numbness or tingling in your hands or feet
—Wounds that don't heal
—Yeast infections that keep coming back
Some tips for type 2 diabetes
Simple changes at home can make a big difference. You can start with changing your lifestyle and taking certain medications.
1. Cutting off weight can help. It is good to lose 5% to 10% of your body weight, and it is ideal to lose 7% and keeping it off if you are overweight. Portion control and eating healthy foods can help you a lot.
2. 30 to 60 minutes of exercise every day is very important. You can choose any kind of physical activities to get your heart rate up, including walk, bike and swim. You can also take some strength training such as yoga or weightlifting.
3. A healthy diet can do the magic as long as you focus on:
—Eating more veggies and fruits
—Limiting refined carbs, especially sweets
—Taking fewer calories
—Taking more fiber
4. You need to test your glucose levels regularly, especially when you’re on insulin. Consult your doctor how often you should do it.
5. Some common type 2 diabetes drugs include:
—Insulin. Insulin detemir (Levemir) or insulin glargine (Lantus) can treat your condition well. You can tale these shots at night.
—Metformin (Fortamet, Glucophage, Glumetza, Riomet) to lower the amount of glucose your liver makes and help your body respond better to the insulin.
—Sulfonylureas to help your body make more insulin. They include gliclazide (Diamicron, Dianorm), glimepride (Amaryl), glipizide (Glucotrol, Metaglip) and glyburide (DiaBeta, Micronase).
—Meglitinides to help your body make more insulin faster than sulfonylureas. They include nateglinide (Starlix) and repaglinide (Prandin).
—Thiazolidinediones to make you more sensitive to insulin. They include pioglitazone (Actos) or rosiglitazone (Avandia). It is worth noticed that they may raise your risk of heart problems.
—DPP-4 inhibitors to help lower your blood sugar levels. They include linagliptin (Tradjenta), saxagliptin (Onglyza), and sitagliptin (Januvia). But they can also cause joint pain and inflame your pancreas.
—GLP-1 receptor agonists to slow digestion and lower blood sugar levels. They include exenatide (Byetta, Bydureon), liraglutide (Victoza) and semaglutide (Ozempic).
—SGLT2 inhibitors to stop your kidneys from absorbing sugar into your bloodstream. They include canagliflozin (Invokana), dapagliflozin (Farxiga), and empagliflozin (Jardiance). But they can make heart attack or stroke more likely.
To learn more about diabetes, check this! Nobody is Safe: Your Ultimate Diabetes Prevention Guidebook
