Is Rory McIlroy diabetic? Exploring the health condition of the Irish golfer

Although there has been a lot of speculation, there is no information to confirm that Rory McIlroy is diabetic. Certainly, he uses a device to permanently monitor his blood glucose, but for reasons completely unrelated to diabetes.

Although there has been a lot of speculation, there is no information to confirm that Rory McIlroy is diabetic. Certainly, he uses a device to permanently monitor his blood glucose, but for reasons completely unrelated to diabetes.

The topic has been talked about since he was seen wearing a permanent glucometer on one of his arms during pre-season training last year. Some quickly associated this with the problems McIlroy has had with his diet in the past and went straight to their own "diagnosis" -- diabetes.

But it wasn't that. It turns out that measuring blood glucose is useful for professional athletes and not only for those suffering from diabetes. Dr. Alberto Saccarello, an Italian physician and diabetes specialist, explained it this way to Tennis World USA:

"Glucose is the fuel for our muscles. Glycemia counts with our muscle performance: when we are under physical effort, the blood sugar level tends to drop and thus the performance of the muscles is reduced, which at that moment begin to function less well, because they are overloaded, among other things, also by lactic acid. "The good news, however, is that with the glucometer it is possible to study the variations in the presence of sugar in our body in the various phases of the day and, if we intervene with the right diet, we can greatly increase physical performance."

So, no diabetes for Rory McIlroy and a lot of worrying about his health and how it influences his performance. We are talking, after all, about the current number three ranked golfer in the world, winner of 23 tournaments on the PGA Tour, including four majors, without forgetting that he won the FedEx Cup three times. There is some health to be taken care of there.

Rory McIlroy and his health challenges

While there are no reports implying that Rory McIlroy suffers from diabetes, his career has been marked by injury and illness. More than once, his tenure at the top level has been in jeopardy because of this.

As early as 2010, he suffered a back injury that kept him out of competition for several months. This fact, added to the work he did to get back in shape, revealed that, although he was only 20 years old, he was not following a proper diet.

From that moment on, he began to work on this aspect. He has done so in a very public way. Even fans have been able to see how he feeds himself during tournaments, as they've witnessed him eating healthy food.

Rory McIlroy eats a banana during the 2018 PGA Championship (Image via Getty).

However, he has repeatedly found himself needing to refocus on controlling his diet. In 2017 he revealed to ESPN that he was restructuring the way he ate, as he had had some drawbacks:

"There's been a couple of times this year where my joints have been inflamed or I just haven't quite had the energy levels and whatever. So I just want to get some food allergy stuff done and use this time to delve deeper into trying to see where I can really get better and be more disciplined. "I would be the first one to say my diet probably hasn't been the best over the past year and a half. You're always eating out at restaurants, and sometimes you don't make the best choices."

On the other hand, during the 2016 season, Rory McIlroy contracted a virus that caused him to develop a heart infection. Although he successfully treated it and is considered fully recovered, the disease caused him to lose tissue thickness in the left ventricle of his heart, as well as a certain amount of scar tissue.

Rory McIlroy at the 2018 WGC HSBC Champions, China (Image via Getty).

This condition, in turn, impacted the movement of his heart, specifically, when the ventricle should go into a relaxed state. It is known medically as "Flat T-Wave".

This heart condition, to date, has had no major consequences on Rory McIlroy's daily life. The Irish golfer has recovered his general health and has had no cardiac symptoms of any kind since his recovery. According to the specialists, it is only something that he must keep monitored.

Most recently, he suffered from a low emotional period after his bad performance at the Masters Tournament last April.

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