Diabetes

People who are at risk for type 1 are those who have a family history of the disease, those of age twenty and younger, and Caucasians. Diabetes strikes all races, but is more common among whites. Type 2 usually develops after the age of forty. This affects ninety to ninety-five percent of Americans with diabetes. Type 2 diabetics produce insulin, but the cells in the body are "insulin resistant".

Diabetes is a very serious disease with many life threatening consequences, but if it is taken care of properly, diabetics can live a normal life. Diabetes is a disease that causes an abnormally high level of sugar, or glucose, to build up in the blood. Glucose comes from food we consume and also from our liver and muscles. Blood delivers glucose to all the cells in the body. In people without diabetes, the pancreas makes a chemical called insulin which is released into the blood stream.

This unwanted disease works its way into even the strongest of people who have had no symptoms. Even with a healthy lifestyle, can diabetes become preventable? Diabetes can be caused by too little insulin, resistance to insulin, or both. “Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas to control blood sugar.” People need insulin to survive. People with high blood sugar normally have diabetes because their pancreas does not make enough insulin, their muscle, fat, and liver cells do not respond to insulin.

Diabetes affects 18.2 million people in the United States. It is often referred to by doctors as diabetes mellitus and described as, “… a metabolic disease in which the person has high blood sugar …” (Collazo- Clavell et all. 2009), either because the insulin is inadequate or the body’s cells don’t respond well to the insulin. The health and economic consequences of diabetes are considerable. The majority of people that have diabetes live in low and middle income countries, where the prevalence of the disease is high.

Type 1 is usually caused by one not having enough insulin. Type 2 can be caused by genes, obesity, and insulin resistance. This form is the most common. Gestational diabetes is caused by the change of hormones during a pregnancy and possibly genes. Although this type of diabetes disappears after a woman’s pregnancy, she is at risk to have type 2 diabetes later in life.

Type 2 diabetes is a chronic illness that is a result of the body’s insulin not functioning correctly. It was formerly called adult-onset or insulin-dependent. It is also the most common kind of diabetes accounting for about 90 percent of all diabetes cases. Type 2 diabetes can also cause obesity and high cholesterol. About 6 percent of the population suffers from diabetes while about one-third of those who do have it, do not know about it.

Diabetes This is a chronic metabolic disorder caused by disturbances in carbohydrates, lipid and protein imbalances leading to increased blood glucose levels. There are three main types of diabetes mellitus; type one, type two and gestational diabetes. Type one is common among children under the age of twenty years, while type two is associated with adults. Other types of diabetes are; congenital diabetes, steroid diabetes and monogenic diabetes. However, these other forms are less prevalent compared to the three main types of diabetes.

The second type of diabetes is called Diabetes Insipidus or type II. In type II the body does not make enough insulin, or the body has trouble using insulin. People with type II may inject insulin but they do not depend on it to live. Type II affects mostly people over 40 but it can affect younger people as well. The symptoms include frequent urination, constant thirst, constant hunger, weight loss,... ... middle of paper ... ...he acids in the stomach destroy it before it can begin to do its work.

Diabetes is in the top ten of the leading causes of death in the US, ranking in at number 7 (The Facts). Diabetes Mellitus has two main types: Type 1 and Type 2. Type 1, previously referred to as Insulin Dependent or Juvenile Onset Mellitus Diabetes, is typically diagnosed in children and young adults. In Type 1 the body essentially can no longer produce the proper amount of insulin. Insulin, according to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is a protein pancreatic hormone secreted by the beta cells of the islets of Langerhans that is essential especially for the metabolism of carbohydrates and the regulation of glucose levels in the blood and that when insufficiently produced results in diabetes mellitus (m-w.com).

Type 1 diabetes is when the body does not produce insulin. Insulin is a type of hormone that people need in order to convert sugar, starches, and other food into energy. In type 1, the beta cells in the pancreas destruct which is how, in most cases, leads to insulin deficiency (Daneman 2006). This type of diabetes is accounted for only about 5-10 percent of the population who are diagnosed with diabetes (Daneman 2006). Type 1 is usually found in children and young adults, however it is triggered through environmental elements such as viruses (Mayo Clinic staff 2015).