A new study finds that an epidemic of diabetes among younger people in Mexico means that a lot of them are contracting COVID-19, which could have insinuations for the United States, where 10.5 percent of its population has diabetes.

The diabetes catastrophe in Mexico, which kills more people in the country every year compared to relational violence, could be resulting in possible worsening of COVID-19, specifically for the younger generation, said metabolic health experts.

Metabolic health firm, Levels Chief Medical Officer and medical doctor, Casey Means said, the Mexican government's reports show, among the people dying from the virus, 44 percent reported they have hypertension, while 43.2 percent said they have diabetes and 40 percent, suffering from obesity.

As of the middle of this month, Mexico has reported more than 11,000 active COVID-19 cases and 6,000 mortalities. As of this writing, the number is about similar to the active cases recorded in Missouri or Nebraska although, according to the report, "with a much higher death rate."

Linking Diabetes to COVID-19

According to Means, early data that comes out of Mexico has shown people with early-onset diabetes are more likely to undergo hospitalization or be on a respirator. 

There seems to be a reason for the link between diabetes and the virus. In an article recently published in Metabolism, a scientific journal, Means said, a protein helping the COVID-19-causing infection "into human cells, is found more frequently" in individuals who have diabetes.

Means added, these are mainly avoidable lifestyle-intervened illnesses that citizens dying unduly die of the illness. Director Mexico's National Institute of Medical Science and Nutrition's nutrition division and medical researcher, Carlos Aguilar Salinas said, there is both nutritional and genetic element to the high diabetes rates in Mexico.

Aguilar Salinas also added that Mexicans have the ethnic-particular hereditary variation that increased their vulnerability "for type 2 diabetes."

He also said that the switch from a diet rich in carbohydrates to a high-fat and high-calorie diet, and a considerable decline in physical activity led to the rise of obesity in Mexico.

Lifestyle Change Needed

The medical research said major changes need to take place in the coming years, in developing nations "to metabolic disorders."

Changes in the production and distribution of food chain, major alterations in supermarkets, improvements in the built environment to enforce physical activity and walking, will have a major effect in a short period of time.

More so, Means explained too, that the lowest-hanging fruit in public health orders "is clear, strong procedures from the government including health authorities.

The threat of becoming severely sick with COVID-19 is possible to be lower if diabetes is managed and controlled well, and sugar levels are swiftly adjustable with both lifestyle and dietary changes, said Means in a report.

Those with diabetes in the developing world, according to research, are not the only ones who face challenges in this COVID-19 era.

Doctor of MidMichigan Health, Utibe Effiong, who is also a senior fellow of Aspen Institute's global health and development says, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus patients in America and even worldwide are presently losing access to hydroxychloroquine which puts them at risk of illness flares and hospital confinement-likely to expose them to COVID-19.

Meanwhile, Effiong, as well as the other health experts have warned hundreds of thousands of people, mostly females, could experience pain thankfully, they claimed, "due to the shortage in hydroxychloroquine."

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