Diabetes is a broad term given to several types of metabolic disease that result from a glucose imbalance in the body. It is a complicated disease with many risk factors that contribute to its development as well as disease course progression and life expectancy.
Knowledge
of the risk factors help screening efforts to identify people with pre-diabetic
states. Early recognition of the condition can help physicians to select the
best treatment regime suited to each individual patient. In doing this,
the growing global burden of diabetes can hopefully be limited in the future
with the evolution of new treatments and an ever increasing understanding of
the disease.
Diabetes is a chronic condition that occurs when the body cannot produce enough or effectively use insulin. Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas that allows glucose from food to enter the body's cells where it is converted into energy needed by muscles and tissues to function.
As
a result, a person with diabetes does not absorb glucose properly, and glucose
stays circulating in the blood (hyperglycemia, high level of sugar in the
blood) damaging tissues over time. This damage leads to life-threatening health
complications.
Characteristics
§ When carbohydrates are absorbed, they are digested and chemically degraded.
§ They appear in the blood as glucose molecules, which are used to generate energy in the cells.
§ Glucose concentrations are held in the reference range of 80-120 mg/dL (4.5 - 6.5 mmol/L).
§ The process of glucose metabolism is controlled by the hormone insulin, which is derived from the ß-cells of the pancreas.
§ Without insulin, the cells cannot incorporate glucose for energy production, the liver cannot build the glycogen stock, and gluconeogenesis continues in an uncontrolled way.
§ Blood glucose levels increase to >180 mg/dl
(10 mmol/L) and become toxic to the organism.
Diabetes - Characteristics
§ Diabetes develops:
§ If the body cannot produce enough insulin, or
§ If the body has an impaired responsiveness to insulin (insensitivity to insulin).
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