Important notice to the General Public: BIADIT Sri Lanka is purportedly advertising online indicating that DASL endorses a drug named BIADIT. Please note that we have NOT endorsed this drug and we are unaware of the efficacy of this product.
Diabetes Prevention
  1. Home
  2. Lifestyle Modification
  3. Diabetes Prevention

Diabetes Prevention

Aetiology /Causation of Type 2 Diabetes

To prevent we need to know the aetiology or causation of T2D. In July 2002, DASL hosted an International Conference where a unanimous Consensus on Aetiology of T2D and a Primary Prevention Strategy was reached in Colombo in the presence of 350 International diabetologists from 330 countries. The President of the International Diabetes Federation Sir George Alberti and the Board of Directors were present at this epic event. The aetiological / causative factors agreed are:-

  • Genetics
  • Foetal Origins [ in the womb]
  • Lifestyles
  • Stress

Primary Prevention was to be achieved through Education, Awareness and advocacy.

What can I do to prevent Diabetes?

There are many ways to prevent diabetes. These include living a healthy lifestyle, periodic checks of your BGLs and making sure that risk factors are identified and corrected to avoid illness. This is primary prevention. These include proper diet and nutrition, adequate exercise and stress management.

Secondary prevention is to maintain good BGL control to prevent complications.

Tertiary prevention is to actively manage complications of diabetes to improve one’s quality of life and longevity.

Identifying risk factors

Risk factors are

  • Being Overweight or obese [ calculate your BMI]
  • Increased waist
  • Lack of exercise and leading a sedentary lifestyle
  • Stress
  • Family history
  • Smoking and intake of Alcohol
  • Gestational Diabetes – Diabetes in pregnancy

Correction of risk factors

If you have four or more risk factors mentioned above, you must take immediate action to change and correct your lifestyle to reduce risk. Reach out to our dedicated team of health professionals at the National Diabetes Centre to guide you to reduce risk. The good news is that 50% of persons at risk or persons with pre diabetes can reduce their risk by lifestyle modification.

This may mean changing your dietary habits, planning a regular exercise programme or joining a gym, reducing stress through better time management at work and home and taking time to meditate or do yoga to relieve stress. This will entail making positive changes in your lifestyle and social activities. This may be a major change but seeking help from our NDC healthy lifestyle professionals will guide you to live a healthier and illness free life.