What Is Diabetes? What Are Diabetes Types?

Before defining what are diabetes, we can first say that diabetes can strike anyone from the moment of birth to death from any walk of life. Both males and females are equal.

Nowadays, more than 26 million American have diabetes. The cases of people living with diabetes jumped to more than 40%. This shows us how the numbers of people who have diabetes dramatically increasing.

Diabetes mellitus isn't just restricted to Americans, worldwide, it afflicts about 180 million people. These numbers shows us how is the suffering the people have from having the diabetes mellitus. Not this only, the studies about diabetes mellitus shows us that in 2030 the number of the people who have diabetes will be the double or maybe more.

On the other hand, diabetes costs the US public more than 174 billion dollars every year, and diabetes takes lives more than breast cancer and AIDS combined. Diabetes is a cause of stroke, heart failure, amputations, kidney failure and blindness.

Diabetes claimed the life of 1 American every 3 minutes, we still don't have certain numbers about worldwide diabetes. While It's also make the entire family of the person who have it financial and physical burden.

What Is Diabetes?

Before answering what are diabetes, we need first to know the role of insulin in the human body. When you eat any kind of food, your body turns this food into glucose or sugars. Then the pancreas of your body begin releasing insulin.

After that, the insulin serves like a key to open the cells of your body in order to allow the glucose to enter and then allow you to use this glucose for producing the energy.

But what is diabetes? Shortly, diabetes makes this system don't work.

What Are Diabetes Common Types?

Like any other disease, diabetes mellitus have types. Two main types are the common, type 1 and type 2 diabetes. But these are not the whole types of diabetes mellitus. For example, there is gestational diabetes that occurs during pregnancy.

What Is Type 1 Diabetes?

Type 1 diabetes, juvenile diabetes or insulin-dependent diabetes. This is a common diabetes type. This type of diabetes usually develops in teenagers and children. It don't limited on these cases. In other words, diabetes type 1 can develop at any age.

What Is Type 2 Diabetes?

This type of diabetes is the most common type of diabetes, type 2 diabetes called also non-insulin dependent diabetes and adult onset diabetes. This type of diabetes is typically develops after the age of 35. But the problem is that a big numbers of younger people are developing the type 2 diabetes.

People who have the type 2 diabetes are able to produce some insulin of theirs. However, it's not enough comparing to the normal people. And to allow the glucose to enter, sometimes the insulin will try to serve to open the body's cells. But the cells don't open this case is called insulin resistance.

As we mentioned before, the type 1 and 2 of diabetes are not the only types of diabetes. There are many other diabetes types like the diabetes of pregnancy and even more.