Diabetes: Diabetes Basics
Introduction
Diabetes
is a number of diseases that involve problems
with the hormone
insulin. Normally, the pancreas (an organ
behind the stomach) releases insulin to help your body store and use the sugar
and fat from the food you eat.
Diabetes when one of the following occurs:
- When the pancreas does not produce any insulin.
- When the pancreas produces very little insulin.
- When the body does not respond appropriately to
insulin, a condition called "insulin resistance."
Diabetes is a lifelong disease. Approximately 18.2
million Americans have the disease and almost one third ( or approximately 5.2
million) are unaware that they have it. An additional 41 million people have
pre-diabetes. As yet, there is no cure. People with diabetes need to manage their disease to stay healthy.
The Role of Insulin in Diabetes
To understand why insulin is important, it helps to know more about how the
body uses food for energy. Your body is made up of millions of cells. To make
energy, these cells need food in a very simple form. When you eat or drink, much
of your food is broken down into a simple sugar called "glucose." Then, glucose
is transported through the bloodstream to the cells of your body where it can be
used to provide some of the energy your body needs for daily activities.
The amount of glucose in your bloodstream is tightly
regulated by the hormone insulin. Insulin is always being released in small
amounts by the pancreas. When the amount of glucose in your blood rises to a certain level, the pancreas will
release more insulin to push more glucose into the cells. This causes the
glucose levels in your blood (blood glucose levels) to drop.
To keep your blood glucose levels from getting too low
(hypoglycemia or low blood sugar), your body signals you to eat and releases
some glucose from the stores kept in the liver.
People with diabetes either don't make insulin or their body's cells no
longer are able to recognize insulin, leading to high blood sugars. By
definition, diabetes is having a blood glucose level of 126 milligrams per
deciliter (mg/dL) or more after an overnight fast (not eating anything).
Types of Diabetes
Type 1 Diabetes
Type 1 diabetes occurs because the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas
(called beta cells) are destroyed by the immune system. People
with type 1 diabetes produce no insulin and must use insulin injections to
control their
blood glucose.
Type 1 diabetes most commonly starts in people under the age of 20, but may
occur at any age.
Type 2 Diabetes
Unlike people with type 1 diabetes, people with type 2 diabetes produce
insulin. However, the insulin their pancreas secretes is either not enough or
the body is unable to recognize the insulin and use it properly. When there
isn't enough insulin or the insulin is not used as it should be, glucose can't
get into the body's cells.
Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes,
affecting almost 18 million Americans. While most of these cases can be
prevented, it remains for adults the leading cause of diabetes-related
complications such as blindness, non-traumatic amputations and chronic kidney
failure requiring dialysis. Type 2 diabetes usually occurs in people over age 40
who are overweight, but can occur in people who are not overweight. Sometimes
referred to as "adult-onset diabetes," type 2 diabetes has started to appear
more often in children because of the rise in obesity in young people.
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