Diabetes is a disorder that affects the way your body uses food for energy. Normally, the sugar you take in is digested and broken down to a simple sugar, known as glucose. The glucose then circulates in your blood where it waits to enter cells to be used as fuel. Insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas, helps move the glucose into cells. A healthy pancreas adjusts the amount of insulin based on the level of glucose. But, if you have diabetes, this process breaks down, and blood sugar levels become too high.
Diabetes Mellitus Type 1
Diabetes mellitus type 1 can get seriously complicated and that too very fast. Diabetic ketoacidosis is a serious condition in which uncontrolled hyperglycemia (usually due to complete lack of insulin or a relative deficiency of insulin) over time creates a buildup in the blood of acidic waste products called ketones. High levels of ketones can be very harmful. Diabetes is a disease that affects how the body uses glucose (say: gloo -kose), a sugar that is the body's main source of fuel. Like a CD player needs batteries, your body needs glucose to keep running.
Type 1 diabetes often appears suddenly. The following are the most common symptoms of type 1 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the body mistakenly attacks the islet cells in the pancreas. Insulin, which regulates blood sugar levels, is produced by the islet cells. Type 1 diabetes may develop in persons with a family history of type 1 diabetes, but may also develop in persons with no family history of diabetes. In either case, the person has one or more genes that make them susceptible to the disease.
Type 1 diabetes is usually diagnosed in children and young adults, and was previously known as juvenile diabetes. In type 1 diabetes, the body does not produce insulin. Type 1 diabetes accounts for 5% to 10% of all diagnosed cases of diabetes. In the US alone, approximately 20.8 million individuals, or 7.0% of the total population have diabetes. Type 1 diabetes accounts for 3% of all new cases of diabetes each year. There is 1 new case per every 7,000 children per year.
Type 1 Diabetes is associated with deficiency (or lack) of insulin. It is not known why, but the pancreatic islet cells quit producing insulin in the quantities needed to maintain a normal blood glucose level. Type 1 diabetes starts because the body destroys the beta cells. Experts don't know why this happens. Type 1 diabetes develops in individuals who are genetically susceptible. An exposure to some yet unknown triggering environmental factor(s) may be required.
Type 1 diabetes begins when the beta cells in the pancreas are so severely damaged that they can no longer make insulin. Destruction of beta cells is usually gradual, taking place over several years. Type 1 diabetes cuts lives short by about 15 years, with early deaths due mainly to heart attacks and strokes. However, research has made dramatic progress in extending life expectancy for people with this disease. Type 1 diabetes also is known as insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) or juvenile-onset diabetes. While type 2 diabetes typically strikes adults, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) reports that more than 1 million children and teenagers (age 19 and younger) have type 1 diabetes.
Type 2 Diabetes
Type 2 diabetes, formerly called adult-onset diabetes or noninsulin-dependent diabetes, is the most common form of diabetes. People can develop type 2 diabetes at any age--even during childhood. Type 2 diabetes - confined to older adults for most of the 20th century - now affects some obese children even before puberty. Modest weight reduction reduces blood pressure and abnormal blood cholesterol and substantially lowers risk of type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a multifactorial disease in which environmental triggers interact with genetic variants in the predisposition to the disease [1 ]. T2D is characterized by impaired insulin secretion and insulin action in target tissues such as muscle and liver [2 ].
Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes. In type 2 diabetes, either the body does not produce enough insulin or the cells ignore the insulin. Type 2 diabetes accounts for up to 95 percent of all diabetes cases. The prevalence of this form of diabetes has skyrocketed in the last 30 years, due mostly to the upsurge in obesity. Type 2 diabetes can be prevented or at least delayed if a person maintains a healthy body weight and exercises regularly. Treatment focuses on keeping blood sugar and cholesterol at safe levels.
Type 2 diabetes has been loosely defined as “adult onset” diabetes, but as diabetes becomes more common, cases are being diagnosed in younger people and children. In determining the risk of developing diabetes, environmental factors, such as food intake and exercise, are known to have an important role; most people with type 2 diabetes are either overweight or obese. Type 2 diabetes is showing up in increasingly younger patients, warn experts. Until recently, it was usually diagnosed only in adults over 30. Type 2 diabetes affects nearly 21 million in the United States and the incidence of the disease has skyrocketed in the last 30 years. Diabetes is a major cause of heart disease and stroke, as well as the most common cause of blindness, kidney failure and amputations in U.S.
Type 2 diabetes tends to be fairly hereditary in contrast to Type 1 diabetes. Approximately 38% of siblings and one third of children of people with type 2 diabetes will develop diabetes or abnormal glucose metabolism at some point. Type 2 Diabetes, which was only recognized as a rare separate form of diabetes in 1959, is a now a disease that is growing in prevalence at a staggering rate. A child born in 2000 stands a one in three chance of being diagnosed with diabetes in his/her lifetime. Type 2 diabetes develops slowly over time and may go undetected for many years. Because of the slow onset and minimal symptoms early in the disease, as many as 33 percent of the people who have the disease are not yet diagnosed.
Type 2 diabetes is a lifelong disease that happens when the cells of the body can't use insulin the right way or when the pancreas can't make enough insulin. Insulin lets blood sugar?also called glucose?enter the body?s cells to be used for energy. Type 2 diabetes doesn't happen overnight. Prediabetes is a condition in which a person's blood sugar is higher than normal but not high enough to be diagnosed as type 2 diabetes.
