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What Is Diabetes?

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Video Credit - Michael Stevens- The Diabetes Download (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYNZJb5s-OY)

Diabetes is a chronic condition that happens when the body cannot produce enough of the hormone insulin or cannot use insulin effectively. Insulin is a hormone produced in the pancreas. Insulin acts as a key that lets the body’s cells take in glucose and use it as energy.


There are 3 main types of diabetes


Type 1 Diabetes

This occurs when the body’s immune system destroys the cells that make insulin. People with type 1 diabetes, the result of an auto-immune process with very sudden onset, need insulin therapy to survive. Type 1 is managed through life-long injections, a healthy diet, exercise and blood glucose management.

Type 2 Diabetes

Type 2 diabetes, on the other hand, can go unnoticed and undiagnosed for years. Type 2 is when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin. In such cases, those affected are unaware of the long-term damage being caused by their disease.

Gestational diabetes

This occurs during pregnancy and can result in serious health risks to the mother and her infant. It also puts the mother at increased risk for developing type 2 diabetes later in life.

 Risk Factors 

  • Obesity
  • Poor diet
  • Physical inactivity
  • Advancing age
  • Family history of diabetes
  • Ethnicity
  • High blood glucose during pregnancy affecting the unborn child

Complications

 People with diabetes have an increased risk of developing a number of serious health problems.




 Reference: IDF Diabetes Atlas

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