DT Health: Disruptive metabolism root cause of diabetes

By Dr Maluk Mohamed, co-founder, VP (Research) & India Head, Twin Health

CHENNAI: Diabetes is a condition and not a disease. The actual disease is disruptive metabolism. Metabolism refers to the multiple biochemical reactions carried out by our body cells to convert food into energy.

These biochemical reactions require a lot of energy and the energy consumed differs from person to person depending on the factors such as age, body weight and body composition.

In addition, they occur continuously, making metabolism very complex. Thus, the metabolism does not remain constant and varies from person to person.

Given the dynamic nature of metabolism, precisely measuring the disruption becomes a real challenge.

However, before we look at how to deal with this condition, let us understand how disruptive metabolism affects our body and progresses into diabetes.

A metabolically damaged body leads to structural and functional damage of the beta cells, which raises the condition of insulin secretion and insulin resistance.

This condition is referred to as glucotoxicity.

Similarly, it also leads to cellular dysfunction caused by a persistently high free fatty acid and this condition is referred to as lipotoxicity.

Keeping this in mind, diabetologists have no option except to treat the most common symptom, high blood sugar. This is done through tablets and injections.

Furthermore, diabetes generally progresses to high blood pressure and cholesterol, leading to heart attack, kidney failure, stroke and liver failure.

Since the last decade, the positive trajectory of digital health has proved the emergence of diabetes remission through normalising sugar levels by cutting the source of sugars through dietary programmes.

However, advancement in technology has made precision treatment possible, proving that diabetes remission through measuring the disruptive metabolism and offering precision treatment can ensure a holistic transformation of the human body.