Diabetes

Diabetes

    Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disease characterized by high blood sugar (glucose) levels that result from defects in insulin secretion or the body’s ability to use insulin.
Normally, blood glucose levels are tightly controlled by insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas. Insulin lowers the blood glucose level. When the blood glucose elevates (for example, after eating food), insulin is released from the pancreas. This release of insulin promotes the uptake of glucose into body cells. In patients with diabetes, the absence of insufficient production or lack of response to insulin causes hyperglycemia. Diabetes is a chronic medical condition, meaning that although it can be controlled, it lasts a lifetime.
In type 1 diabetes, the pancreas cannot produce insulin. Type 1 diabetes was formerly known as juvenile diabetes or insulin-dependent diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is more a result of insulin resistance (cells not being able to use insulin effectively or at all. It was formerly known as adult-onset diabetes or non-insulin-dependent diabetes.