Most food that is processed through our bodies is broken down by digestive juices into a sugar called glucose. This is the fuel our bodies run on.
Diabetes is a disease of the metabolism. Metabolism is the way our bodies use digested food for energy and growth.
When we eat, and our food is processed, the pancreas is supposed to produce the right amount of glucose from our blood automatically and release the right amount of insulin into our blood.
Diabetes occurs when blood glucose, also called blood sugar, is too high. High blood glucose can cause health problems over time.
In people with diabetes, little to no insulin is produced or the body’s cells do not respond correctly to the insulin that is produced. Therefore the glucose builds up and overflows into the urine and passes out of the body.
This is how the body loses its main source of fuel even though the bloodstream contains good amounts of the natural glucose.
The three most common types of diabetes are: type I, type II and gestational diabetes.
People who have type I are known as insulin-dependent, IDDM-I.
This is an autoimmune disease, where the body’s natural system is fighting against another part of the body. In the case of type I, the system attacks the insulin producing cells and destroys them. Therefore the pancreas can produce little to no insulin.
In type I diabetes, symptoms can develop quickly, over a matter of just weeks.
These people are in need of daily injections of insulin to live.
Five to ten percent of diabetes cases are type I in the U.S.
People who have type II are know as noninsulin dependent, NIDDM-II.
In people with type II, the body does not make or use insulin well. This is caused by several factors including lifestyle and genes.
In type II diabetes, the symptoms develop slowly, over the course of several years.
Type II is the most common type of diabetes.
Gestational diabetes occurs in some women when they ae going through their pregnancy.
This diabetes is related to genes, lifestyle and to hormonal changes that make their bodies less able to use insulin.
This can cause heath problems in both the mother and the baby.
Women who have had gestational diabetes have a greater chance of developing type II later in life.
More than 100 million Americans are living with diabetes (30.3 million) or prediabetes (84.1 million).
Sometimes people refer to diabetes as a “touch of the sugar”, or say they are a borderline diabetic. These terms suggest that someone does not really have diabetes or has a less serious case. Every case of diabetes is serious.