Thursday 30th July, 2009:   Continuing from the last article, please remember that even if you’ve had a heart attack, or been diagnosed with coronary heart disease, you can help your heart to stay healthy and reduce your risk of further problems.  By making small changes to your lifestyle you can reduce your risk of developing heart disease.

This week’s article will look at another main factor you should consider for reducing your risk of heart disease – DIABETES.

What is diabetes?

Diabetes means that there is too much glucose (sugar) in the blood. Your body usually produces glucose when you digest your food, and a hormone called insulin takes the glucose from your blood and helps it enter your cells where it used. Diabetes develops when your body doesn’t produce enough insulin, which leads to the level of glucose in your blood becoming too high

How is diabetes linked to heart disease?

Diabetes increases your risk of developing cardiovascular disease. High glucose levels can affect the artery walls, encouraging fatty deposits to develop. If you have diabetes, you are more likely to have high cholesterol levels and high blood pressure. Diabetes also increases the effect of some of the other risk factors for cardiovascular disease – such as smoking and being overweight.

What can I do?

A simple blood test will determine if you have diabetes.

If you don’t have diabetes, you can greatly reduce your risk of developing it by controlling your weight and doing regular physical activity.

If you do have diabetes, it’s very important to make sure that you control your blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol. This will help to keep your risk of cardiovascular disease as low as possible.

Find out as much as possible about your diabetes by talking with your Dr or health care provider at the health centers.

If this article has raised any questions for you, GET ANSWERS! See someone at the Health Center or call Grenada Heart Foundation at 444 4175. We will be happy to help!

The Grenada Heart Foundation (GHF) began in 1984 when the St. George’s University School of Medicine was approached for assistance in obtaining heart surgery for a small Grenadian child.  A commitment made then to secure funding for treatment as well as long term follow-up care continues today with St. George’s University providing administrative support along with generous contributions. Join us in celebrating 25 years of “Helping Grenada Have a Heart”.

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