What is diabetes?

Diabetes is a disease in which the body does not produce or properly use insulin. Insulin is a hormone that is needed to convert sugar, starches and other food into energy needed for daily life. The cause of diabetes continues to be a mystery, although both genetics and environmental factors such as obesity and lack of exercise appear to play roles.

Major Types of Diabetes

There are three major types of diabetes which are described below.

Type 1 diabetes

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease. An autoimmune disease results when the body's system for fighting infection (the immune system) mistakenly attacks the body's own organs and tissues. In diabetes, the immune system attacks the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas and destroys them. As a result, the pancreas then produces little or no insulin. A person who has type 1 diabetes must take insulin every day in order to live.

Scientists do not know exactly what causes the body's immune system to attack it's own beta cells, but they do believe that autoimmune, genetic, and environmental factors are involved. Type 1 diabetes accounts for roughly 5 to 10 percent of diagnosed diabetes patients in the United States. It develops most often in children and young adults, but can appear at any age.

Symptoms of type 1 diabetes usually develop over a short period of time, although beta cell destruction can begin years earlier. Symptoms include increased thirst and urination, constant hunger, weight loss, blurred vision, and extreme fatigue. If not diagnosed and treated with insulin, a person with type 1 diabetes can lapse into a life-threatening diabetic coma, also known as diabetic ketoacidosis or "DKA".

Type 2 diabetes

The most commonly encountered form of diabetes is type 2 diabetes. About 90 to 95 percent of people with diabetes have type 2. This form of diabetes is commonly associated with older age, obesity, family history of diabetes, previous history of gestational diabetes, physical inactivity, and ethnicity. About 80 percent of people with type 2 diabetes are overweight.

When type 2 diabetes is diagnosed, the pancreas is usually produces enough insulin, but for unknown reasons, the body cannot use the insulin effectively.  This condition is called "insulin resistance". After several years, insulin production in the body decreases. The result is the same as for type 1 diabetes. That is, glucose builds up in the blood and the body cannot make efficient use of its main source of fuel.

The symptoms of type 2 diabetes develop gradually. Their onset is not as sudden as in type 1 diabetes. Symptoms may include fatigue or nausea, frequent urination, unusual thirst, weight loss, blurred vision, frequent infections, and slow healing of wounds or sores. Some people have no symptoms.

Gestational Diabetes

Gestational diabetes develops only during pregnancy. Like type 2 diabetes, it occurs more often in African Americans, American Indians, Hispanic Americans, and among women with a family history of diabetes. Women who have had gestational diabetes have a 20 to 50 percent chance of developing type 2 diabetes within 5 to 10 years.