What is Diabetes?
submitted: Aug 26th 2008 |
by: JuliaHanf |
Total views: 1 |
Word Count: 533 |
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Ask anyone if they have heard of diabetes and they will likely answer yes. Most people have heard of diabetes. They may have a friend or relative who has the condition. However, most people know little about how diabetes affects the body.
Chronic high blood glucose levels characterize the medical condition called diabetes. Diabetes occurs when the cells resist utilizing insulin to absorb glucose or when the system does not produce sufficient insulin.
The most common form of diabetes, Type 2 occurs when the cells resist properly using insulin. The majority of diabetes cases (90%) are Type 2. Type 1 is rarer, occurring in about 7% of cases. In Type 1 the body fails to make sufficient insulin. Approximately 7% of Americans have diabetes; it is most common in people age 60 or older.
Other types of diabetes also occur. For example, pregnant women may suffer from gestational diabetes, which is temporary. Other forms may also be temporary and they are all rarer than Type 2 and Type 1.
Typical symptoms for either type are abnormally frequent urination, produced by the body's attempt to clear excess glucose by elimination. As a result, unusual thirst is common, compensated for by drinking higher than average amounts.
Because Type 1 usually affects children and teenagers is has been called juvenile onset diabetes. Type 2 is found mainly in older people and so has been called adult onset diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is thought to be caused mainly by an autoimmune system malfunction that damages the pancreas. Obesity and other factors may cause Type 2.
Type 1 and Type 2 have some genetic components. Both types result in the body being unable to eliminate glucose from the bloodstream due to faulty or insufficient insulin use or production.
Insulin is the hormone chiefly responsible for regulating the level of glucose in the body. Many foods that contain carbohydrates are broken down by digestion and produce primarily glucose. That glucose is taken up by the body to supply the energy needed for cell repair, muscle movement and a thousand other functions. Insulin helps the glucose make its way into the cells.
When insulin is produced in too low an amount, or the body's cells resist the intake of glucose by interfering with insulin's function, diabetes is the result. Since the pancreas produces the overwhelming majority of the body's insulin, when some condition causes it to malfunction, diabetes can result.
Whether diabetes is Type 1 or Type 2, it is generally chronic. However, much can now be done to reduce the bad effects of diabetes. Either type of diabetes can be managed with appropriate nutrition and fairly easy treatments. Diabetes also varies in its degree of malfunction. Sometimes the insulin used or made is just slightly insufficient; in other instances, the cells are strongly resistance to insulin or the pancreas makes virtually no insulin.
Diabetes can have serious side-effects if untreated. Excess glucose taxes all of the body's systems and can cause various complications. The severity of these complications depends on the level of insulin resistance or deprivation.
About the Author
Julia Hanf author of the book How To Play the Diabetes Diet Game and Win
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