Health Psychology: What Is The Biological Basis To The Illness (Essay Sample)

Health Psychology
Name
Institution
Diabetes Mellitus- Type 2 diabetes (T2D)
Type 2 diabetes is a chronic condition of abnormal blood sugar which is caused by caused by the body resisting insulin and its metabolic activities. This is followed by a chain of reaction leading to destruction of cells which produce insulin thus the body fails to regulate blood sugar levels. Research establishes that deposition of amyloid in the pancreatic cells causes damage of cells responsible for production of insulin. Insulin is the hormone that functions to regulate the blood sugar through a series of complex processes ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"2ep8u6bhhv","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Prasad & Groop, 2015)","plainCitation":"(Prasad & Groop, 2015)"},"citationItems":[{"id":1666,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/50azr2up/items/IJDFQGS6"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/50azr2up/items/IJDFQGS6"],"itemData":{"id":1666,"type":"article-journal","title":"Genetics of Type 2 Diabetes—Pitfalls and Possibilities","container-title":"Genes","page":"87-123","volume":"6","issue":"4","source":"CrossRef","DOI":"10.3390/genes6010087","ISSN":"2073-4425","language":"en","author":[{"family":"Prasad","given":"Rashmi"},{"family":"Groop","given":"Leif"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2015",3,12]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Prasad and Groop, 2015). Further studies done by Murea et al. (2012) established that a reaction known as IL- 1beta that is responsible for the destruction of islet cells that primarily functions to produce insulin ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"hjpe9jd19","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Murea, Ma, & Freedman, 2012)","plainCitation":"(Murea, Ma, & Freedman, 2012)"},"citationItems":[{"id":1665,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/50azr2up/items/TI7FR7IR"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/50azr2up/items/TI7FR7IR"],"itemData":{"id":1665,"type":"article-journal","title":"Genetic and environmental factors associated with type 2 diabetes and diabetic vascular complications","container-title":"The Review of Diabetic Studies","page":"6-22","volume":"9","issue":"1","source":"CrossRef","DOI":"10.1900/RDS.2012.9.6","ISSN":"1613-6071, 1614-0575","language":"en","author":[{"family":"Murea","given":"Mariana"},{"family":"Ma","given":"Lijun"},{"family":"Freedman","given":"Barry I."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2012"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Murea et al., 2012).
T2D is associated with several environmental risk factors some behavioural factors. Among these factors includes personal lifestyle such as uncontrolled eating of unhealthy food. For instance, eating of large amounts of sweets and pastas. Research shows that such foods triggers uncontrolled body digestion and absorption due to the fact that they do not occur naturally. Stress is also an environmental factor to T2D research shows that stress hormones are actively involved in raising the blood glucose levels in the body ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"5egggnjmu","properties":{"formattedCitation":"{\\rtf (Ilonen, Vaarala, \\uc0\\u197{}kerblom, & Knip, 2009)}","plainCitation":"(Ilonen, Vaarala, Åkerblom, & Knip, 2009)"},"citationItems":[{"id":1667,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/50azr2up/items/656GW3HC"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/50azr2up/items/656GW3HC"],"itemData":{"id":1667,"type":"article-journal","title":"Environmental factors and primary prevention in type 1 diabetes","container-title":"Pediatric endocrinology, diabetes, and metabolism","page":"227-232","volume":"15","issue":"4","source":"PubMed Central","abstract":"The incidence of type 1 diabetes has been increasing rapidly among children in most European countries over the last decades. Despite of the known strong genetic component in the disease only environmental factors can explain such a rapid change. The increase in incidence has been most conspicuous in the youngest age group, which emphasizes the importance of infancy and early environmental exposures. Nutritional and infectious factors affecting the young child or even the mother during pregnancy have been implicated to be important in the pathogenesis. The identification of single factors has been extremely difficult as reflected by many controversial reports on their importance. This difficulty may also be due to the heterogeneity of the disease mechanisms. Multiple mechanisms in different pathways may ultimately be responsible for beta-cell destruction. In most cases the disease is probably caused by a complex interplay between multiple factors including distinct genetic polymorphisms and environmental effects. Exploration of these pathways is needed for the development of effective preventive measures. The implementation of primary prevention trials will ultimately prove the value of various concepts generated for the disease pathogenesis.","ISSN":"2081-237X","note":"PMID: 20455416\nPMCID: PMC4225540","journalAbbreviation":"Pediatr Endocrinol Diabetes Metab","author":[{"family":"Ilonen","given":"Jorma"},{"family":"Vaarala","given":"Outi"},{"family":"Åkerblom","given":"Hans K."},{"family":"Knip","given":"Mikael"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2009"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Ilonen et al., 2009). Murea et al. (2012) established that only insulin regulating cells are activated during stress conditions, other cells are inactivated or shut down so as to save the sugar fuels for the activated cells ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"hjpe9jd19","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Murea, Ma, & Freedman, 2012)","plainCitation":"(Murea, Ma, & Freedman, 2012)"},"citationItems":[{"id":1665,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/50azr2up/items/TI7FR7IR"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/50azr2up/items/TI7FR7IR"],"itemData":{"id":1665,"type":"article-journal","title":"Genetic and environmental factors associated with type 2 diabetes and diabetic vascular complications","container-title":"The Review of Diabetic Studies","page":"6-22","volume":"9","issue":"1","source":"CrossRef","DOI":"10.1900/RDS.2012.9.6","ISSN":"1613-6071, 1614-0575","language":"en","author":[{"family":"Murea","given":"Mariana"},{"family":"Ma","given":"Lijun"},{"family":"Freedman","given":"Barry I."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2012"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Murea et al., 2012).
Pollution is also another important environmental risk factor. Contact with chemical contamination from foodstuff, liquid and plastic materials escalates the risk of insulin resistance in the body. Epidemiological data from a study done by Ilonen et al. (2009) pointed that environmental contaminants such as insecticides and herbicide enhances processes that leads to diabetes, among these is the process of glucose breakdown and absorption ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"SnHkL8sv","properties":{"formattedCitation":"{\\rtf (Ilonen, Vaarala, \\uc0\\u197{}kerblom, & Knip, 2009)}","plainCitation":"(Ilonen, Vaarala, Åkerblom, & Knip, 2009)","dontUpdate":true},"citationItems":[{"id":1667,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/50azr2up/items/656GW3HC"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/50azr2up/items/656GW3HC"],"itemData":{"id":1667,"type":"article-journal","title":"Environmental factors and primary prevention in type 1 diabetes","container-title":"Pediatric endocrinology, diabetes, and metabolism","page":"227-232","volume":"15","issue":"4","source":"PubMed Central","abstract":"The incidence of type 1 diabetes has been increasing rapidly among children in most European countries over the last decades. Despite of the known strong genetic component in the disease only environmental factors can explain such a rapid change. The increase in incidence has been most conspicuous in the youngest age group, which emphasizes the importance of infancy and early environmental exposures. Nutritional and infectious factors affecting the young child or even the mother during pregnancy have been implicated to be important in the pathogenesis. The identification of single factors has been extremely difficult as reflected by many controversial reports on their importance. This difficulty may also be due to the heterogeneity of the disease mechanisms. Multiple mechanisms in different pathways may ultimately be responsible for beta-cell destruction. In most cases the disease is probably caused by a complex interplay between multiple factors including distinct genetic polymorphisms and environmental effects. Exploration of these pathways is needed for the development of effective preventive measures. The implementation of primary prevention trials will ultimately prove the value of various concepts generated for the disease pathogenesis.","ISSN":"2081-237X","note":"PMID: 20455416\nPMCID: PMC4225540","journalAbbreviation":"Pediatr Endocrinol Diabetes Metab","author":[{"family":"Ilonen","given":"Jorma"},{"family":"Vaarala","given":"Outi"},{"family":"Åkerblom","given":"Hans K."},{"family":"Knip","given":"Mikael"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2009"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Ilonen et al., 2009).
Association between biological factors and environmental factors in T2D is seen on the fact that T2D can is genetically inheritable from one generation to another and there is an evidence from Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) that environmental aspects such as pollution, stress, exercises impacts the manifestation of the T2D gene phenotypically in the next generation ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"ev9r14fc6","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Jackson, 2009)","plainCitation":"(Jackson, 2009)"},"citationIt...