Diabetes is a chronic (lifelong) disease marked by high levels of sugar in the blood.
See also:
Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas to control blood sugar. Diabetes can be caused by too little insulin, resistance to insulin, or both.
To understand diabetes, it is important to first understand the normal process by which food is broken down and used by the body for energy. Several things happen when food is digested:
People with diabetes have high blood sugar. This is because:
There are three major types of diabetes:
Diabetes affects more than 20 million Americans. Over 40 million Americans have prediabetes.
There are many risk factors for type 2 diabetes, including:
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Eisenbarth GS, Polonsky KS, Buse JB. Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus. In: Kronenberg HM, Melmed S, Polonsky KS, Larsen PR. Kronenberg: Williams Textbook of Endocrinology. 11th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2008:chap 31.
Standards of medical care in diabetes--2007. Diabetes Care. Jan 2007;30 Suppl 1:S4-S41.