Complications > Other

When people become unwell with a minor illness like influenza, a urinary tract infection or gastric upset, they are likely to lose their appetite, and low energy levels are common. Most people just want to stay in bed, take the relevant medication, sleep, and hope the discomfort recedes – which it normally does.

Diabetes can lead to important changes in the mouth. Oral infections in turn may adversely affect metabolic control and impact on the quality of life of people with diabetes. Over the years, however, caring for the mouth has been overlooked by physicians who have been focusing on other diabetes complications. Of particular concern to dentists and dental hygienists is the impact of diabetes on diseases affecting gum tissues and teeth – the most common cause of tooth loss in people with diabetes.

Editior-in-chief 's editorial

Since early case reports in the 1980’s, there has been considerable interest in examining the connection between type 1 diabetes and eating disorders. Some researchers argue that the attention to food portions (especially carbohydrates), blood glucose, body weight, and exercise that are characteristic of standard medical treatment for type 1 diabetes resembles the rigid thinking about food and body image that is characteristic of people with eating disorders without diabetes.

The onset of coeliac disease, together with type 1 diabetes, influences glycaemic control, and more precisely the development of hypoglycaemia. These conditions share a similar genotype. The main problem of coeliac disease is intolerance to gliadin, a gluten protein found in cereals such as wheat, rye and barley; the only treatment is a gluten-free diet. Spomenka Ljubic and Zeljko Metelko report on the growing body of evidence linking coeliac disease and other autoimmune disorders, including type 1 diabetes, and describe recommended procedures for its diagnosis and treatment.

Typically, people with learning difficulties due to intellectual disability face a variety of daily challenges, and require continual support from specialized carers. If they are affected by a chronic medical condition, such as diabetes, people with intellectual disability require coordinated support from diabetes-aware carers and informed healthcare providers.

The third edition of the Diabetes Atlas was launched in December 2006, at the 19th World Diabetes Congress of the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) in Cape Town, South Africa. The aim of the Atlas, which has been described as the flagship publication of IDF, is to provide the most recent and accurate information on diabetes in 2007 and provide estimates of the likely impact of the condition up to 2025. Its purpose is to disseminate the most up-to-date and salient facts concerning the scope, impact and burden of diabetes globally and on a regional and country-by-country basis.

When IDF brings together the global diabetes community at a World Diabetes Congress, it does so with a number of key objectives, which include raising overall diabetes awareness, sharing innovative ideas and best practices, and helping to build and consolidate networks – in line with the Federation’s mission to promote care, prevention and a cure for diabetes worldwide.

In many countries, young people work effectively as advocates for a range of causes, from inner-city regeneration to anti-bullying and smoking cessation. An IDF initiative aimed to engage Youth Ambassadors in diabetes advocacy worldwide and specifically to participate at as many levels as possible in IDF’s global awareness campaign ’Unite For Diabetes’. In this article, representatives from the group describe the principles and objectives of the IDF Youth Ambassadors programme and make a call for increased involvement of young people in diabetes advocacy.