This is how diabetes can impact your body from head to toe

Experts refer to diabetes as a "silent killer," an ominous label, for sure, but definitely not an exaggeration. Caused by chronic high blood sugar due to the inability of the body to use or produce insulin (the hormone that converts food to energy), diabetes can have no obvious symptoms for many years. When signs do appear, however, they put you at risk for certain diseases or leave you with irreparable damage.

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"Diabetes impacts our body literally from head to toe," says Dr. Jimmy B. Aragon from the Diabetes Care Center of Makati Medical Center (MakatiMed). "That's why we always advocate for early detection, so treatment can begin before the effects become irreversible."

Long-term exposure to blood sugar damages our blood vessels, which leads to a host of complications, some of them life-threatening:

Cardiovascular disease. "People with diabetes are more at risk of getting a stroke and heart attack," reveals Dr. Aragon. "Damaged blood vessels become stiff and develop plaque, hampering oxygen and blood flow to vital organs like the brain and heart."

Visual problems. "Damaged blood vessels in the eyes can lead to diabetic retinopathy, a condition that blurs vision and could progress to blindness," shares Dr. Aragon. "Cataracts or a cloudiness in your eye's lens and glaucoma or the damage of an optic nerve are also traced to diabetes."