The More You Know About Diabetes

Diabetes is known as diabetes mellitus which is a group of metabolic diseases in which the person has high blood glucose level (blood sugar), either because insulin production is not sufficient , or because the body's cells do not respond properly to insulin, or can be both. Patients having high level of sugar will experience 
polyuria (frequent urination), 
they will become increasingly thirsty (polydipsia) 
and hungry (polyphagia).

There are three types of diabetes:

1) Type 1 diabetes

The body does not produce insulin. This type is known as insulin-dependent diabetes, juvenile diabetes, or early-onset diabetes. People commonly develop type 1 diabetes in their 40th year, often in early adulthood or teenage years.

Diabetes type 1 is  near as common as type 2 diabetes. Approximately 10% of all diabetes cases are known to be type 1.

Patients with type 1 needs to take insulin injections for the rest of their life. They should follow proper blood-glucose levels by carrying out regular blood tests.

More information on type 1 diabetes is available in our type 1 diabetes  article,

2) Type 2 diabetes

The body is not producing enough insulin for proper function, or the cells in the body are not insulin resistant.

 Maximum of all cases of diabetes worldwide are type 2.

Overweight/obese people have higher risk to develope type 2 diabetes compared to those with a healthy body weight. People with a lot of fat are also known as central obesity, belly fat, or abdominal obesity, are more at risk. Being overweight causes the body to release harmful chemicals that can destabilize the body's cardiovascular and metabolic systems both .Some people are able to control their diabetes symptoms by losing weight, doing plenty of exercise, keeping healthy diet and controlling their blood glucose levels. However, type 2 works in a progressive way - it gradually gets worse and worse - and the patient will probably end up having to take insulin, usually in tablet form.

Being overweight  and eating wrong foods all causes to our risk to develope type 2 diabetes  The scientists believe that the impact of sugary soft drinks on diabetes risk is a direct one.

The risk of developing type 2 diabetes is also greater as we get older. Those who have a close relative who is type 2 diabetic patients , people of Middle Eastern, African, or South Asian descent also have a higher risk of developing the disease.

Men whose testosterone level is low are found to have higher risk of developing diabetes type 2. Moreover, low testosterone levels are linked to insulin resistance. 

More information on type 1 diabetes is available in our type 2 diabetes page.

3) Gestational diabetes

This type affects females during their maternity stages .Females having high glucose level in their blood, and their bodies fail to produce enough insulin to transport all of the glucose into their cells, resulting in progressively rising levels of glucose.

Diagnosis of gestational diabetes is made during pregnancy.

The majority of gestational diabetic patients can control it with exercise and diet. 10% to 20% of them will need to take some kind of  medications that controls blood-glucose. Uncontrolled gestational diabetes may raise the high risk of complications in childbirth.

Scientists of the National Institutes of Health and Harvard University found that women whose diets pre-pregnancy were high in animal fat and cholesterol had a higher risk for gestational diabetes.

What is prediabetes?

The vast majority of patients with type 2 initially has prediabetes. Their blood glucose levels where higher than normal, but not high enough to merit a diabetes diagnosis. The body cells are becoming resistant to insulin.

Studies shows that even at the prediabetes stage, damage to the circulatory system and the heart can occure.

Diabetes is a metabolism disorder

Diabetes is classed as a metabolism disorder. Metabolism is referred as to the way our body uses digested food for energy and growth purposes. Whatever we eat is broken down into glucose. Glucose is a form of sugar which is found in the blood - it is the principal source of fuel for our bodies.

When the food is digested, the glucose enters into our bloodstream. Our cells use the glucose for energy and growth.Glucose cannot enter our cells however without insulin presense - insulin makes it possible for our cells to take the glucose in.

Insulin is a hormone of pancreas. The pancreas release an adequate amount of insulin to move the glucose present in our blood into the cells after eating, as soon as glucose enters the cells blood-glucose levels drop.

A diabetic patients has a condition in which the quantity of glucose in the blood is too elevated (hyperglycemia) because the body may not produce enough insulin, produces no insulin, or has cells not responding properly to the insulin the pancreas produces resulting in too much glucose building up in the blood. The glucose that is in the excess amount passes out of the body in the form of urine.Even though the blood has plenty amount of glucose, the cells are not getting it for their essential energy and growth requirements.