Diabetes | HealthInfi

Overview

Diabetes is a chronic condition in which the body produces too little insulin or can’t use available insulin efficiently. Insulin is a hormone vital to helping the body use digested food for growth and energy.

An estimated 25.8 million people in the United States, or approximately 8.3% of the population, have diabetes. In 2010, about 1.9 million people age 20 or older were diagnosed, according to the American Diabetes Association (ADA).

Diabetes is a number of diseases that involve problems with the hormone insulin. Normally, the pancreas (an organ behind the stomach) releases insulin to help your body store and use the sugar and fat from the food you eat. Diabetes can occur when the pancreas produces very little or no insulin, or when the body does not respond appropriately to insulin. As yet, there is no cure. People with diabetes need to manage their disease to stay healthy.

You are at higher risk for developing type 2 diabetes if you are overweight, don’t exercise, are over 45, or have close relatives with diabetes, especially type 2 diabetes. Higher-risk ethnic groups include African American, Latino/Hispanic, Native American, Alaska Native, Asians and Pacific Islanders. Native Americans and Alaska Natives are at more than twice the risk of Caucasians for developing type 2 diabetes.

Although diabetes is a potentially life-threatening condition, people with well-managed diabetes can expect to live healthy lives.

How Diabetes Develops

Much of the food we eat is broken down by digestive juices into a simple sugar calledglucose, which is the body’s main source of energy. Glucose passes into the bloodstream and, from there, into cells, which use it for energy.

However, most cells require the hormone insulin to “unlock” them so glucose can enter. Insulin is normally produced by beta cells in the pancreas (a large gland behind the stomach). In healthy people, the process of eating signals the pancreas to produce the right amount of insulin to enable the glucose from the food to get into cells. If this process fails or doesn’t work properly, diabetes develops.

In people with diabetes, the pancreas produces little or no insulin, or the body’s cells do not respond to the insulin that is produced. As a result, glucose builds up in the blood, overflows into the urine and passes out of the body. Thus, the body loses its main source of fuel even though the blood contains large amounts of glucose.Read More