Diabetes interferes with the way the body processes the sugar glucose, the body's main source of energy. When all is going well, cells absorb glucose from the blood stream after we've eaten and use it as fuel, or pack it away for future use. Insulin, produced by the pancreas, orchestrates the process. With diabetes, the process breaks down, and glucose start to builds up in the blood.
There are three types of diabetes:
- Type 1, usually diagnosed in children and adolescents, is caused when the body can't produce insulin. The body's immune system or environmental factors are believed to trigger Type 1, which accounts for 10 per cent of diabetes.
- Type 2, which accounts for 90 per cent of diabetes, usually begins when the glucose-absorbing cells lose their ability to mop up sugar and it starts to build up in the blood. Overeating, sedentary lifestyles and an aging population are believed to be fuelling the explosion of Type 2, which affects 250 million people worldwide, up from 30 million in 1985.
- Gestational diabetes occurs during pregnancy and increases the risk to both the mother and child of developing Type 2.
- "Pre-diabetes" means the body's cells are not responding properly to insulin, and sugar levels in the blood begin to rise. Left unchecked, more tha half of people with pre-diabetes develop full-blown diabetes within eight to 10 years.
Diabetes interferes with the way the body processes the sugar glucose, the body's main source of energy. When all is going well, cells absorb glucose from the blood stream after we've eaten and use it as fuel, or pack it away for future use. Insulin, produced by the pancreas, orchestrates the process. With diabetes, the process breaks down, and glucose start to builds up in the blood.
There are three types of diabetes:
- Type 1, usually diagnosed in children and adolescents, is caused when the body can't produce insulin. The body's immune system or environmental factors are believed to trigger Type 1, which accounts for 10 per cent of diabetes.
- Type 2, which accounts for 90 per cent of diabetes, usually begins when the glucose-absorbing cells lose their ability to mop up sugar and it starts to build up in the blood. Overeating, sedentary lifestyles and an aging population are believed to be fuelling the explosion of Type 2, which affects 250 million people worldwide, up from 30 million in 1985.
- Gestational diabetes occurs during pregnancy and increases the risk to both the mother and child of developing Type 2.
- "Pre-diabetes" means the body's cells are not responding properly to insulin, and sugar levels in the blood begin to rise. Left unchecked, more tha half of people with pre-diabetes develop full-blown diabetes within eight to 10 years.
