Article Medically Reviewed By:
Nora Saul, M.S, R.D., L.D.N., C.D.E.
Certified Diabetes Educator Licensed Dietitian Joslin Diabetes Center Boston, MA
Overview
What Is It?
Diabetes is a chronic condition in which the body produces too little insulin or can't use available insulin efficiently.
Diabetes is a chronic condition in which the body produces too little insulin or can't use available insulin efficiently. Insulin is a hormone vital to helping the body use digested food for growth and energy.
An estimated 23.6 million Americans (approximately eight percent of the population) have diabetes, and about 1.6 million more aged 20 or older were diagnosed with the disorder in 2007, according to the American Diabetes Association. Untreated, diabetes can cause long-term complications that affect almost every part of the body, making it the sixth leading cause of death in theUnited States.
You are at higher risk for developing type 2 diabetes if you are overweight, don't exercise and are over 30, or if you have close relatives with diabetes, especially type 2 diabetes. Higher-risk ethnic groups include African American, Latino/Hispanic, Native American, AlaskaNative, Asian or Pacific Islander American heritage. s. Native Americans and Alaska Natives are at more than twice the risk of Caucasians for developing type 2diabetes.
Although diabetes is a potentially life-threatening condition, people with well-managed diabetes can expect to live healthy lives.
How Diabetes Develops
Much of the food we eat is broken down by digestive juices into a simple sugar called glucose, which is the body's main source of energy. Glucose passes into the bloodstream and, from there, into cells, which use it for energy. However, most cells require the hormone insulin to "unlock" them so glucose can enter. Insulin is normally produced by beta cells in the pancreas (a large gland behind the stomach). In healthy people, the process of eating signals the pancreas to produce the right amount of insulin to enable the glucose from the food to get into cells. If this process fails or doesn't work properly, diabetes develops.
In people with diabetes, the pancreas produces little or no insulin, or the body's cells do not respond to the insulin that is produced. As a result, glucose builds up in the blood, overflows into the urine and passes out of the body. Thus, the body loses its main source of fuel even though the blood contains large amounts of glucose.
Types of Diabetes
There are several types of diabetes:
- In type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes, the pancreas makes little or no insulin because the insulin-producing beta cells have been destroyed. Type 1 diabetes is less common than type 2 diabetes, accounting for about five to 10 percent of diabetes cases. Formerly known as "juvenile diabetes," type 1 typically develops during childhood or young adulthood but can appear at any age.
Type 1 diabetes is classified as an autoimmune disease—a c...
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