Reviewer: Yang Xubin (The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University)
Diabetes is a group of diseases that involve problems with insulin.
Insulin is normally released from the pancreas (the organ behind the stomach) to help the body store and use the sugar and fat from food. Diabetes occurs when one of the following occurs:
The pancreas produces little or no insulin;
The body does not respond properly to insulin, a condition known as “insulin resistance.”
Diabetes is a lifelong condition affecting approximately 18.2 million Americans, and nearly one-third (approximately 5.2 million) people with diabetes do not know they have it. Another 41 million are prediabetic.
To date, there is no complete cure for diabetes. To stay healthy, people with diabetes need to manage and manage their disease.
Image source: Zhanku Hailuo
I. The role of insulin in diabetes
In order to understand why insulin is important in diabetes, it can be helpful to learn more about how the body uses food for energy. The body is made up of millions of cells, and in order to produce energy, these cells need simple forms of food.
When you eat or drink, most of the food you eat is broken down into a simple sugar called “glucose.”
Glucose is then transported through the bloodstream to the body’s cells, where it can be used to provide energy for the body’s daily activities.
The amount of glucose in the bloodstream is tightly regulated by insulin. Insulin is released by the pancreas, and when the amount of glucose in the blood rises to a certain level, the pancreas releases more insulin, which lowers the level of glucose in the blood (blood sugar level) in order to push more glucose into the cells.
To prevent blood sugar levels from becoming too low (hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar), the body signals to eat and releases some glucose in the liver.
People with diabetes either do not produce insulin, or the body’s cells become resistant to insulin, resulting in high levels of sugar circulating in the blood, known as hyperglycemia.
Diabetes mellitus is defined as a symptomatic patient with a blood glucose level of 126 mg/dl or higher after an overnight fast (without eating anything), or a random blood glucose of more than 200 mg/dl; such as Asymptomatic, need to be retested on a different day.
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Second, what are the types of diabetes?
Type 1 diabetes:
Type 1 diabetes occurs when the insulin-producing cells (called beta cells) in the pancreas are destroyed by the immune system. People with type 1 diabetes do not produce insulin, so insulin injections are necessary to control blood sugar.
Type 1 diabetes is common in people under the age of 20, but can occur at any age.
Type 2 diabetes:
Unlike people with type 1 diabetes, people with type 2 diabetes can produce insulin. However, their pancreas either produces insufficient insulin or the body becomes insulin resistant.
When insulin is insufficient or insulin is not being used properly, glucose cannot enter body cells.
Type 2 diabetes is the most common type of diabetes, affecting nearly 18 million Americans. While the majority of these cases are preventable, in adults it remains the leading cause of diabetes-related complications such as blindness, non-traumatic amputations, and chronic renal failure requiring dialysis.
Type 2 diabetes usually occurs in overweight people over the age of 40, but it can also occur in normal-weight people. Type 2 diabetes, sometimes referred to as “adult-onset diabetes,” is starting to show up more often in children due to rising obesity rates among young adults.
Some people can manage their type 2 diabetes with weight control, diet, and regular exercise; others may also need other medications to help the body use insulin better, Or inject insulin.
Typically, doctors are able to detect the possibility of type 2 diabetes before it actually occurs. Prediabetes usually occurs when someone’s blood sugar levels are higher than normal, but not high enough to diagnose type 2 diabetes.
Gestational diabetes:
Gestational diabetes is caused by pregnancy. Hormone changes during pregnancy may prevent insulin from working properlyAbility. This condition occurs in about 4% of pregnancies.
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Pregnant women at increased risk for gestational diabetes are: 25 years of age or older, overweight before pregnancy, have a family history of diabetes, or are Hispanic, Black, Native American, or Asian.
Gestational diabetes screening during pregnancy. If left untreated, gestational diabetes increases the risk of complications for the mother and unborn baby.
Usually, blood sugar levels return to normal within 6 weeks after delivery. However, women with gestational diabetes have an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life.
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