National Diabetes Month focuses on Heart Disease in November

November is National Diabetes Month; and this year the National Institutes for Health is highlighting the link between diabetes and heart disease.

According the NIH: “When blood sugar is high and moving through blood vessels, the vessels and nerves that control the heart can be damaged, causing heart disease.”

“We think of diabetes as having to do with elevated blood sugar levels and heart disease with elevated cholesterol levels; and that is true, but the combination of the two diseases increases the impact of both conditions,” said David Leal, Program Specialist for Texas A&M AgriLife Extension’s Healthy South Texas Initiative.

“We feel as though they are separate diseases, but they very much go hand in hand.”

The NIH reports that we are more likely to develop heart disease and have a greater chance of heart attack or stroke with diabetes. People with Diabetes are also more likely to have certain conditions like high blood pressure or high cholesterol that increase the chances of heart disease or stroke, which is why smoking and the use of tobacco should be stopped.

Read more: https://www.corsicanadailysun.com/news/national-diabetes-month-focuses-on-heart-disease-in-november/article_c411cec4-fc27-11e9-bdb3-57283e771169.html