Dr. Maria Apostolopoulou
Endocrinologist-Diabetologist
Doctor of the University of Dusseldorf
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Diabetes mellitus is a very common chronic condition that affects a significant part of the population. It is significantly related to a specific genetic background, on which a lifestyle characterized by increased weight, consumption of foods with high energy density but low quality characteristics and lack of physical activity acts. In recent years, other factors have been blamed for the appearance of diabetes, such as poor quality sleep, smoking, noise pollution as well as specific substances found in the environment and food.
Insulin, a necessary treatment in the management of type 1 diabetes, has always had its place in type 2 diabetes, when treatment with other pharmaceutical preparations is no longer sufficient to regulate sugar. In recent years with the development of other drugs, the role of insulin in time has shifted more and more to later stages in the development of diabetes. These drugs fall into two main classes: glucose/sodium cotransporter inhibitors (SGLT2i) and incretin-mimetic drugs (GLP-1, GLP-1/GIP).
The first category of drugs concerns the increased excretion of glucose from the kidneys, while the second mimics substances produced by our own body with the aim of regulating postprandial glucose and suppressing appetite from the brain. A very important element in these classes of drugs is that it has been shown in studies that they not only regulate sugar well, but also significantly help in weight loss and the reduction of cardiovascular risk in people with diabetes. They additionally improve fatty infiltration of the liver, a condition that is extremely common in diabetes and obesity and can progress to significant liver damage. It should be noted here that the treatment of concomitant diseases, especially the stricter regulation of LDL-cholesterol and arterial hypertension, is in recent years more and more strongly at the center of interest of scientific companies.
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In this way, a holistic treatment of diabetes is strengthened, so that our treatment is not only focused on a low glycated hemoglobin, but on the identification of causal factors for the onset of diabetes, accompanying diseases and the evaluation of the patient’s overall cardiovascular risk.
We are optimistic that the treatment of diabetes in a few years will be even more effective for our patients with the overall goal of ensuring a very good quality of life.
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Source: www.zougla.gr
