 |
|
|
|
Can you volunteer to take part in Our Future Health research? There is no doubt now that fast food diets in the UK is a major cause of obesity which then leads to serious health and often life-shortening conditions such as Diabetes, Chronic Heart Disease and sadly death. It also exacerbates conditions such as asthma, arthritis, high blood pressure, and cancer. The degree of urgency required to tackle this developing 'Diabetes Pandemic' within the UK is proven by new analysis by Diabetes UK which predicts that, without significant government action, up to 5.5m people in the UK could be living with diabetes by 2030. Over time, diabetes can damage the heart, blood vessels, eyes, kidneys, and nerves. Sadly Trade Union Safety Reps come across the condition of obesity and ill-health leading to sickness and time-off work and in some severe cases, the passing of colleagues due to heart attacks and other increased Diabetes causing risk factors. For example, an adult with Diabetes has a three times higher risk of having a heart attack than a non-Diabetic adult according to the World Health Organisation.
Their website gives further details of these two types of Diabetes: Type 1 Type 2 Affects about 90% of those with Diabetes. Lots of people get confused between type 1 and type 2 diabetes. This can mean you have to explain that what works for one type doesn't work for the other, and that there are different causes. The main thing to remember is that both are as serious as each other. Whilst unionsafety via it's E-Library has always provided documentation that might be of help to those wanting information about Diabetes and Obesity, the current emphasis on the nation's eating habits and the links with Diabetes and heart disease; will ensure an increase in the documents held in the E-Library You can search for the documents by using search word 'diabetes'.
In particular, students and young people generally are the targets of advertisers for these companies, with the levels of people being treated for obesity in clinics and in A&E Departments; becoming even a strain upon the NHS. Diabetes UK says that around 19 million adults in the UK live with at least one long-term health condition. Common conditions include diabetes, which affects 4.9 million people, heart disease, arthritis and cancer. Many of those aged over 65 years are living with at least two. That is why a new research programme entitled Our Future Health has been developed with Diabetes UK involvement. 'Our Future Health will collect information from millions of volunteers right across the UK to create one of the most detailed pictures we’ve ever had of people’s health' says the research programme's website. Researchers will be able to use this information to discover more effective ways to prevent, detect and treat diseases. Further it says: Promoting the research project, Diabetes UK website has this message: Alongside 15 other charity partners, we’re working with Our Future Health to help them develop their research programme and make sure that people with diabetes will benefit from what it finds out. The programme will help researchers to make new discoveries about health, and test more effective ways to predict, find and treat diabetes and other conditions. People taking part will be asked to provide information and data about their health and lifestyle and small samples of their blood. Three thousand volunteers were welcomed onto the pilot stage of the programme in 2021. In Spring 2022, Our Future Health will open to the public with the aim of recruiting five million adults from all backgrounds to participate in the research programme. Dr Elizabeth Robertson, Director of Research at Diabetes UK said: “We’re delighted to work with Our Future Health to support the development of this unparalleled health research programme, which aims to help researchers make new discoveries that will shape the future of how we prevent and treat diabetes, and other serious long term health conditions, in the UK. We want a new and different future for people living with, or at risk of, diabetes – a world where diabetes can do no harm. Our Future Health will play an important role in speeding up progress towards this goal.” Diabetes UK has a plethera of information in the form of health guides, information on the condition and how to live a fuller life by managing your health condition. Go to their website by clicking on their logo above. Source: unionsafety / Diabetes UK / Our Future Health / NHS
|
 |
Diabetes has two distinct types with different health affects, as Diabetes UK shows in this graphic from their website, on the left.
