Health Blog
Diabetes: An Overview
If you have diabetes, your body isn’t able to properly process and use glucose from the food you eat. There are different types of diabetes, each with different causes, but they all share the common problem of having too much glucose in your bloodstream. Treatments include medications and/or insulins. Some types of diabetes can be prevented by adopting a healthy lifestyle.
Diabetes happens when your body isn't able to take up sugar (glucose) into its cells and use it for energy. This results in a build up of extra sugar in your bloodstream.
Poorly controlled diabetes can lead to serious consequences, causing damage to a wide range of your body's organs and tissues – including your heart, kidneys, eyes and nerves.
Poorly controlled diabetes can lead to serious consequences, causing damage to a wide range of your body's organs and tissues – including your heart, kidneys, eyes and nerves.
The process of digestion includes breaking down the food you eat into various different nutrient sources. When you eat carbohydrates (for example, bread, rice, pasta), your body breaks this down into sugar (glucose). When glucose is in your bloodstream, it needs help – a "key" – to get into its final destination where it's used, which is inside your body's cells (cells make up your body's tissues and organs). This help or "key" is insulin.
Insulin is a hormone made by your pancreas, an organ located behind your stomach. Your pancreas releases insulin into your bloodstream. Insulin acts as the “key” that unlocks the cell wall “door,” which allows glucose to enter your body’s cells. Glucose provides the “fuel” or energy tissues and organs need to properly function.
Insulin is a hormone made by your pancreas, an organ located behind your stomach. Your pancreas releases insulin into your bloodstream. Insulin acts as the “key” that unlocks the cell wall “door,” which allows glucose to enter your body’s cells. Glucose provides the “fuel” or energy tissues and organs need to properly function.
The types of diabetes are:
- Type 1 diabetes:
This type is an autoimmune disease, meaning your body attacks itself. In this case, the insulin-producing cells in your pancreas are destroyed. - Type 2 diabetes:
With this type, your body either doesn’t make enough insulin or your body’s cells don’t respond normally to the insulin. - Prediabetes:
This type is the stage before type 2 diabetes. Your blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not high enough to be officially diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. - Gestational diabetes:
This type develops in some women during their pregnancy. Gestational diabetes usually goes away after pregnancy, however, if you have gestational diabetes you're at higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes later on in life.
Some 34.2 million people of all ages – about 1 in 10 – have diabetes in the U.S. Some 7.3 million adults aged 18 and older (about 1 in 5) are unaware that they have diabetes (just under 3% of all U.S. adults). The number of people who are diagnosed with diabetes increases with age. More than 26% of adults age 65 and older (about 1 in 4) have diabetes.
Factors that increase your risk differ depending on the type of diabetes you ultimately develop.
The cause of diabetes, regardless of the type, is having too much glucose circulating in your bloodstream. However, the reason why your blood glucose levels are high differs depending on the type of diabetes.
- Causes of type 1 diabetes:
This is an immune system disease. Your body attacks and destroys insulin-producing cells in your pancreas. - Cause of type 2 diabetes and prediabetes:
Your body’s cells don't allow insulin to work as it should to let glucose into its cells. Your body's cells have become resistant to insulin. - Gestational diabetes:
Hormones produced by the placenta during your pregnancy make your body’s cells more resistant to insulin. Your pancreas can’t make enough insulin to overcome this resistance. Too much glucose remains in your bloodstream.