High sugar levels due to diabetes, mainly type 2, significantly alter the immune system. This results in increased susceptibility to bacterial infections, such as pneumonia and tuberculosis.

Diabetes is a chronic metabolic disease characterized by high levels of glucose (sugar) in the blood, which over time can damage organs such as the heart, eyes, kidneys, and nerves. This occurs because the body does not produce enough insulin, a hormone that helps glucose enter cells to be used for energy, or because the cells do not respond well to insulin.

These high glucose levels affect chemotaxis and phagocytosis, processes essential for the body's defense. The inability of immune cells to detect and attack pathogens increases the risk of infections.

Effects of Body Fat

On the occasion of November 14, World Diabetes Day, Luis Franco, professor of Health Sciences at the Open University of Catalonia (UOC), provided some clarifications to EFE Health. He said that type 2 diabetes has a double problem, because it's not just about sugar levels, but also about dietary and nutritional factors, which is excess body fat. Excess body fat, especially visceral fat, exacerbates the problems associated with diabetes. Fat-storing cells suffer stress and release inflammatory cytokines, leading to a state of microinflammation that impairs cardiovascular health. The immune system is also affected by the high sugar levels of diabetes; in fact, it "completely disrupts" it, Franco points out. "Furthermore, the elevated glucose levels themselves can directly damage cells, thus lowering defenses—that is, there is cell death and fewer defenses. It has even recently been observed that the antibodies we manage to produce with very high sugar levels become glycated."They bind to antibodies, and these either don't work or work worse,” he explains.

Consequences of Diabetes

Diabetes without proper treatment can lead to major complications. People with diabetes are more prone to resistant infections, increasing the need for specific vaccination schedules,similar to those for immunocompromised individuals.

Especially, people with type 2 diabetes need to develop specific management and prevention strategies, as it requires a multidimensional approach.

It is recommended to incorporate dietary changes, such as consuming complex carbohydrates and reducing processed foods, and increasing physical activity are essential.

Development of Cardiovascular Diseases

Type 2 diabetes significantly influences the development of cardiovascular diseases due to several pathophysiological mechanisms that increase the risk of damage to the heart and blood vessels. In this condition, the body has difficulty producing or using insulin, which chronically elevates blood glucose levels. This persistent hyperglycemia damages the blood vessels and nerves that control the heart, and promotes the formation of fatty plaques in the arteries (accelerated atherosclerosis), which can lead to heart attacks, strokes, and other cardiac complications. In addition, type 2 diabetes causes endothelial dysfunction by reducing the availability of nitric oxide, essential for vascular relaxation, increasing vasoconstriction and platelet aggregation. It also creates a prothrombotic state with increased platelet activation and elevated fibrinogen levels, facilitating clot formation on vulnerable arterial plaques. All of this means that people with type 2 diabetes have a two to four times greater chance of experiencing cardiovascular events such as acute myocardial infarction and angina, and these events tend to be more severe and have a worse recovery than in people without diabetes. Diabetes is frequently associated with other cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension, high cholesterol, obesity, and chronic inflammation, which also contribute to this increased risk. Therefore, Type 2 diabetes is considered equivalent in cardiovascular risk, and its management involves focusing on the prevention and treatment of heart disease to reduce complications and improve life expectancy and quality of life in these patients.

You may also be interested in: