Diabetes 101

Diabetes is the disorder of the present century. Almost every race and ethic group is affected by it. This chronic disease has been steadily growing in numbers and is posing serious challenges to our health care system. Among all the ethnic groups in North America, Diabetes is more severe and difficult to control in blacks, Latinos and Asians. The number of Americans who have diabetes is close to 7-9 million which is 4 times the number two decades ago. Infact it is estimated that there are close to a million more individuals who have the disorder but do not know about it. The longer these individuals have a delayed diagnosis, the greater are the chances that they will already have developed irreversible complications of the disease.

Type 2 diabetes

Diabetes mellitus is a disorder characterized by high levels of blood glucose. The major problem with type 2 diabetes is that the hormone insulin is either low or not secreted or has problems working at the cellular levels. Insulin is responsible for lowering the blood glucose. When the blood glucose levels stay elevated for prolonged periods, one can develop serious complications including blindness, kidney failure, heart disease and blockage of blood supply to the legs.

The majority of Americans develop type 2 diabetes in their middle ages. This form of diabetes develops because for some unknown reason the body fails to either make enough insulin or fails to secrete insulin. Sometimes the insulin levels are adequate but fail to work. The major treatment of type 2 diabetes is with the use of drugs, diet and/or exercise. These drugs work in a number of ways. Some act to break down the excess sugar, other drugs prevent excess glucose from getting into the body and other drugs stimulate the release of insulin from the pancreas. In many obese individuals, the diabetic drugs fail to work and insulin is required.

Type 1 Diabetes

Type 1 diabetes is also common and affects a significant number of children. In type 1 diabetes, the insulin is never made in the pancreas and the individual presents with diabetes as a child. In most cases, the diabetes will be evident during school age. One needs life long insulin to treat this form of diabetes.

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