Residents of Jersey eat too much junk food and don’t do enough exercise. This is according to wellness experts, who note that the number of people with diabetes in Jersey has more than doubled in the past decade, and these two lifestyle factors are the main causes of type 2 diabetes.
In 2003, diabetes affected the wellbeing of 2,000 patients but today over 4,000 islanders suffer with the condition. However, in the past two years, 14 of those patients have had either toe or leg amputations due to complications from the disease, which is five times fewer than the equivalent population in Britain. Yet this has not stopped doctors from warning Jersey inhabitants about those potential consequences. Diabetes is still the most common cause of amputation in the British Isles, and 50% of all amputees suffer from the condition.
Tony Sullivan became disabled as a result of diabetes 12 years ago, losing his leg to the disease. Tony is less mobile and has to have more check ups with his doctor as a result of this, and his medical team now has concerns about his other leg. ‘The only shocking thing was to be told several years after I lost it, that there was a sort of limitation you were expected to lose the other one within 5 years and the possibility of keeping it for 10 years was very remote and I’m now into year 12 and I’m definitely not going to lose it,’ he said.
If you have a healthy body, your blood supply can reach your legs and toes. However, when you have type 2 diabetes, your arteries may become clogged with fat, meaning that your blood supply is restricted and you may also suffer some nerve damage. When this happens, and your legs become damaged by cuts or sores, you won’t be able to feel them and your poor circulation means you won’t heal as well. If then you have an infection as a result, you may need an amputation.
According to Dr Peter Bates, the genetic background of the population has not changed in the last 20 years, but the lifestyles have and this is the reason behind the epidemic. ‘We’re being encouraged to eat more, we’re being encouraged to exercise less by all the lovely food and the wonderful cars and labour saving devices and all those things around us,’ he said.
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