Essential Info on Diabetes. Symptoms, Treatment & How to Manage Diabetes

Diabetes Causes

Type 1 diabetes: Type 1 diabetes is believed to be an autoimmune disease. The body's immune system specifically attacks the cells in the pancreas that produce insulin.

    A predisposition to develop type 1 diabetes may run in families, but genetic causes (a postitive family history) are much more common for type 2 diabetes.

    Environmental factors, including common unavoidable viral infections, may also contribute to type 1 diabetes.

    Type 1 diabetes is most common in people of non-Hispanic, Northern European descent (especially Finland and Sardinia), followed by African Americans, and Hispanic Americans. It is relatively rare in those of Asian descent.

    Type 1 diabetes is slightly more common in men than in women.

Type 2 diabetes: Type 2 diabetes has strong genetic links, meaning that type 2 diabetes tends to run in families. Several genes have been identified, and more are under study which may relate to the causes of type 2 diabetes. Risk factors for developing type 2 diabetes include the following:

    High blood pressure

    High blood triglyceride (fat) levels

    Gestational diabetes or giving birth to a baby weighing more than 9 pounds

    High-fat diet

    High alcohol intake

    Sedentary lifestyle

    Obesity or being overweight

    Ethnicity, particularly when a close relative had type 2 diabetes or gestational diabetes: certain groups, such as African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Japanese Americans, have a greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes than non-Hispanic whites.

    Aging: Increasing age is a significant risk factor for type 2 diabetes. Risk begins to rise significantly at about age 45 years, and rises considerably after age 65 years.

Diabetes Overview

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a set of related diseases in which the body cannot regulate the amount of sugar (specifically, glucose) in the blood.

The blood delivers glucose to provide the body with energy to perform all of a person's daily activities.

    The liver converts the food a person eats into glucose. The glucose is then released into the bloodstream.

    In a healthy person, the blood glucose level is regulated by several hormones, primarliy insulin. Insulin is produced by the pancreas, a small organ between the stomach and liver. The pancreas also makes other important enzymes released directly into the gut that helps digest food.

    Insulin allows glucose to move out of the blood into cells throughout the body where it is used for fuel.

    People with diabetes either do not produce enough insulin (type 1 diabetes) or cannot use insulin properly (type 2 diabetes), or both (which occurs with several forms of diabetes).

    In diabetes, glucose in the blood cannot move efficiently into cells, so blood glucose levels remain high. This not only starves all the cells that need the glucose for fuel, but also harms certain organs and tissues exposed to the high glucose levels.