Diabetes

What Is Diabetes??

Diabetes is a disease that affects how the body uses glucose, the main type of sugar in the blood glucose comes from the foods we eat and is the major source of energy needed to fuel the body's functions. Thus, it can be stated to be a metabolic disease where utilization and disposal of foodstuffs is deranged. Simple fuels are derived from the digestion of foods we eat. Digestion of starches (carbohydrates) yields glucose, digestion of protein yields amino acids, and digestion of fats yields fatty acids.In order to use all these fuels (glucose, amino acids and fatty acids), it is essential to simultaneously have a hormone called insulin available in the blood stream.

After you eat a meal, your body breaks down the foods you eat into glucose and other nutrients, which are then absorbed into the bloodstream from the gastrointestinal tract. The glucose level in the blood rises after a meal and triggers the pancreas to make the hormone insulin and release it into the bloodstream. But in people with diabetes the body either can't make or can't respond to insulin properly. Insulin works like a key that opens the door to cells and allows the glucose in. Without insulin, glucose can't get into the cells (the doors are locked and there is no key) and so it stays in blood stream. As a result the level of sugar in the blood remains higher than normal.

Insulin is a hormone produced by a gland called the pancreas located in the abdomen.In the absence of insulin the raw materials cannot be produced and accumulate in the blood stream.In Diabetes, a deficiency of insulin or resistance to its action results in non-utilization and accumulation of glucose, amino acids and fatty acids outside our body cells in the blood stream.When glucose accumulates in large amounts and exceeds approximately the level of 180mg percent in the blood stream,it starts spilling over through the kidneys into the urine.Hence, the value of 180mg percent is termed the renal threshold for glucose.Diabetes is diagnosed because of elevated blood glucose and presence of glucose in the urine.

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Types Of Diabetes