Diabetes and Pre-Diabetes

What is Diabetes?

Diabetes is a disease that we often seem unhappy to speak about. Society has, in general, seen a rise in cases of diabetes and is a subject that can sometimes make people fearful. Perhaps those people wouldn't be so afraid if they knew some facts.

So what exactly is Diabetes?

Here's the breakdown. Knowledge is power and learning a bit about diabetes can make a great difference in how we prevent, manage, and enable a life mostly free of complications from this condition.

There are two types of diabetes: Type 1 and Type 2. The major difference is that Type 1 diabetes can't usually be prevented whereas Type 2 diabetes can.

Type 1 diabetes is often called "juvenile diabetes," this is because It typically shows up in childhood and adolescence, although it does at times affect adults.

This form of the disease affects the auto-immune system, and means that the body attacks its own cells for some reason. In this case, the cells of the pancreas are under attack. This results in the pancreas either producing no insulin at all or not enough to satisfy the needs of the body.

In order to understand why this affects you it is necessary to know how insulin works in the body. When the body's metabolism is working normally, it uses sugar as fuel for the body's needs. The sugar is derived from the food we consume, mostly carbohydrates. During digestion, the carbohydrates are broken down into their simplest form, sugars, namely glucose.

The necessary amounts of glucose are made available for immediate use by the body and the rest is stored as fats. Working in response to the amount of sugar in the blood, the pancreas secretes insulin. Insulin is like a boat in the body that transports glucose to the cells where it is burned as fuel to keep you active. Without insulin, sugars can't pass through the walls of the cells.

So, that said, we can resume the discussion where we left off. In a person who has diabetes Type 1, the pancreas doesn't respond properly to the levels of sugar in the blood and the level becomes too high. Over time, this can result in organ and tissue damage.

Diabetes Type 2 or "adult onset diabetes" has a greater incidence in people over the age of 60. However, as we have become used to a more sedentary lifestyle, that average age is changing and we now see Type 2 diabetes in people as young as twenty.

With Type 2, certain risk factors are responsible for the diabetic condition, and some of these factors are self imposed. For example smoking, bad diet, and not enough exercise. As with Type 1, body cells either become resistant to insulin or the pancreas doesn't produce enough to meet the required demands. This means that the same reactions occur in Type 2 as Type 1: blood sugar is not regulated and serious complications could be the result.

I hope that knowing a little about the facts about diabetes will encourage you to take some time out to assess whether or not you are at risk, and wherever possible change your lifestyle to lessen the chances of contracting this disease. As always, if you have any concerns, consult your doctor or health care professional.