Abstract

Globally, an estimated 537 million adults aged 20 to 79 currently have diabetes. The modern life, the socio-cultural and economic transitions have sustained the escalating risk and prevalence of diabetes and other non-communicable diseases in Fongo-Tongo District. The absence of visible signs and the slow evolution of diabetes delay it diagnostic. Then, diabetes imposes an economic burden, including disastrous expenditures to fight the disease at the individual level. The majority of people with diabetes are undiagnosed due to lack of knowledge and the galloping inflation. This work has demonstrated that:
a. The long-term inhalation of quantities of pollutants from smoke of the Eucalyptus species combustion, exclusively used as firewood in Fongo-Tongo District, would provoke acute and repeated increases in blood pressure at elderly, which is a risk factor of type 2 diabetes;
b. The main pollutants in wood smoke that can cause health problems are:
i. fine particles (PM) (particles that are 2.5 microns or less in diameter (PM2.5)),
ii. Carbon Monoxide (CO),
iii. Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs),
iv. Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs),
v. Wood smoke also contains small amounts of other toxic compounds, as well as nitrogen oxides and chlorinated dioxins. Nitrogen oxides can contribute to environmental hazards like smog and acid rain,
c. PM2.5 contributes to approximately 2,800 hospitalizations for cardiovascular and respiratory diseases and approximately 6,700 emergency room visits for asthma every year in California,
d. The hypertensive patients frequently suffering from insulin resistance present an amplified risk of developing diabetes compared to people with normal blood pressure;
e. Of the 47 hypertensive patients ages between 76 and 90 years recorded at the Fongo-Tongo District Hospital, 31 developed type 2 diabetes, i.e. 66 % (Head of hospital’s personal communication),
f. For 4 decades Eucalyptus wood is almost the exclusive domestic source of energy in Fongo-Tongo district and may affect especially elderly people,
g. Frequently inhaled smoke possessing fine particles (PM) would provoke the cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension. Thus, PM could be an indirect and non-metabolic cause of diabetes in the long term? Therefore, wood smoke could be an environmental cause of diabetes,
h. Nevertheless, Eucalyptus species, more abundant in Fongo-Tongo District and helpful in the folkloric treatment of flu, cough and Covid-19 play an important role in the management of type 2 diabetes.

Keywords:An indirect cause; Type 2 diabetes; Eucalyptus plants; Bioactive compounds; Fongo-Tongo district; Cameroon