Type 2 diabetes causes almost no pain or discomfort and yet has profound effects on most of the body. Type 2 is invisible, a chronic disease that does not go away…it damages the blood vessels and changes the blood chemistry; it reaches every organ. One good reason for preventing or controlling diabetes has to do with hip fractures.
Researchers in the Yoo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, looked at diabetes and the risk of hip fractures in a study reported in the journal Diabetes Care, May 2010. Over 60,000 volunteers were followed for an average of 12 years. Diabetics had almost twice the risk of hip fractures as non-diabetics.
The results were consistent with those of another study published in the Journal of Gerontology, Biological Science and Medical Science, published in 2002. Workers at the School of Allied Health Sciences, University of Texas at Galveston, looked at 3050 people over 65 years old. They were followed up for 7 years. The risk of hip fractures for those volunteers with diabetes was more than one and a half times higher than for non-diabetics.
Hip fractures can have severe consequences, including death. Surgical repair is usually highly effective, but major surgery carries its own risks, particularly in people over 65. Immobility after surgery can lead to pneumonia, skin infections, and heart disease. If you are diabetic, consider eliminating all the modifiable risk factors for broken hips.
One such factor is osteoporosis. As we age there is a tendency for the bones to lose calcium, making them weak and susceptible to fractures. If we don’t have enough calcium and vitamin D to begin with, we are candidates for osteoporosis. One of the best ways to get enough calcium is through vegetables such as broccoli and turnip greens. Milk and milk products are not the best because their high protein content can interfere with calcium’s absorption.
And speaking of absorption, be sure to get enough sunlight to make vitamin D. This does not mean that you need to sunbathe for hours and risk skin cancer, but make a point of going for a walk every day. That will not only get you some sunlight, enabling your body to make vitamin D, but the weight-bearing you do while walking will help your bones to absorb the calcium.
It has been found women with type 2 diabetes and poor blood sugar control can suffer greater levels of bone loss than normal, and they are 1.7 times more likely to develop hip fractures. Controlling blood sugar, coupled with weight-bearing exercise and calcium supplements, may reduce the bone loss of osteoporosis.
Astronauts in space found that they were losing calcium from their bones despite an adequate diet, because they were weightless.
Smoking and consuming excess alcohol can also prevent your bones from taking in calcium, so if you smoke, it sounds like a good time to stop.
Ask your doctor if he or she thinks that testing for osteoporosis is warranted in your case. The tests are simple and painless.