Diabetes Facts

Posted in Diabetes

Over the past 20 years, the number of adults diagnosed with diabetes has increased more than doubled, and children are being diagnosed with diabetes in alarming numbers. Diabetes has rapidly emerged as a leading culprit in the epidemic of heart disease that is sweeping the country, and it is a leading cause of amputation and blindness among adults. In fact, this illness has started to attracted government’s attention. So what is Diabetes? Diabetes is a condition defined by high levels of sugar in the blood and the body’s inability to make or use insulin.

Consequences of Ignoring Diabetes

The consequences of uncontrolled diabetes are severe: blindness, kidney failure, increased risk of heart disease, and painful peripheral nerve damage. In fact, ten thousands of people lose their eyesight everyday due to diabetes.

Types of Diabetes

The three most common patterns of diabetes have been recognized over the last thirty years as type 1 , type 2 and gestational diabetics (type 3), although these three “types” of diabetes are more accurately considered patterns of pancreatic failure rather than single diseases.

Type 1 is more serious type of diabetes and typically first appears in children and young adults. Type 1 is an autoimmune condition that occurs when the body attacks and destroys the cells (called beta cells) that make insulin. So injection of insulin is needed.

Type 2 is more common but less drastic as compared to Type 1. About 80% of people with Type 2 are overweight. There is a strong association with obesity and with aging, although in the last decade it has increasingly begun to affect older children and adolescents.

Another common type is gestational diabetes. It develops during pregnancy and may improve or disappear after delivery. Even though it may be transient, gestational diabetes may damage the health of the fetus or mother, and about 40% of women with gestational diabetes develop type 2 diabetes later in life.

Learn what to do with diabetes.

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