
In both types of diabetes, this balance gets interrupted in some way.ĭiabetes is a disease that occurs when the body is unable to properly use and store glucose. When working properly, this interplay between glucose, insulin, and beta cells maintains glucose levels between 70 and 140 milligrams per deciliter of blood. Beta cells sense when there is an excess of glucose in the blood stream, such as just after a meal, and they send insulin out to meet the glucose at the cell’s doors. Insulin is produced in the pancreas by little clusters of cells, known as beta cells. The hormone acts as a doorman, allowing glucose to come inside. Insulin comes into play here, at the cells’ entrance. Its final destination is the body’s cells, where it is used to create energy. That glucose leaves the intestine, travels through the liver, and eventually makes its way into the blood stream. In a healthy body, carbs are all broken down into glucose. This glucose comes from food-mostly carbohydrates, but occasionally from proteins, too. It’s important to know a few things about how your body works before you can take the best care of your diabetes.īlood sugar, or glucose, is the body’s main source of energy. Type 2 diabetes is more likely to occur in people who are over the age of 40, overweight, and have a family history of diabetes, although more and more younger people, including adolescents, are developing type 2 diabetes. Because of these two problems, insulin resistance and trouble making extra insulin, there is not enough of an insulin effect to move the glucose from the blood into the cells. In response to this insulin resistance, the pancreas should make more insulin, but in the case of type 2 diabetes, this does not happen. In type 2 diabetes (which used to be called adult-onset or non-insulin-dependent diabetes) the body produces insulin, but the cells don’t respond to insulin the way they should. This form of diabetes usually develops in children or young adults, but can occur at any age. People with type 1 diabetes must take daily insulin injections (or use an insulin pump) to survive. In type 1 diabetes (which used to be called juvenile-onset or insulin-dependent diabetes), the body completely stops making insulin. The two main types of diabetes are type 1 and type 2. But what exactly is Diabetes? There are a lot of myths and misunderstandings surrounding the disease, particularly when it comes to type 1 versus type 2. 84.1 million adults aged 18 years or older have prediabetes (33.9% of the adult US population.

30.3 million people have diabetes (9.4% of the US population), in one type or another.
