Diabetes Blog | Diabetes Type, Treatment, & Recipes

Diabetes occurs when the body does not have the ability to secrete or utilize enough amounts of the hormone called insulin. Insulin is the hormone produced by the beta cells of pancreas and is responsible for the distribution of glucose throughout the bloodstream. In other words, diabetes occurs when there is a significant imbalance between the body’s glucose supply and its ability to utilize this with the help of insulin. One reason for this is when the body’s pancreas cannot produce enough insulin to aid in the metabolism of the glucose. Another reason is when the body has too much glucose that the insulin it produces can no longer utilize them all.

Type 1 diabetes, or insulin-dependent diabetes, occurs when the pancreas cannot produce insulin. Type 1 diabetes is also known as juvenile onset diabetes because it is mostly diagnosed on patients with age below thirty and mostly with children and adolescents. This inability of the pancreas to produce insulin, in most cases, is hereditary, but there are also cases where it is caused by viral infection, physical damaging of the pancreas, or by damaging of the islets of Langerhans in the pancreas due to one’s own immune system damaging its own pancreas, known as autoimmune response. The cause of autoimmune response is still under study.

Type 2 diabetes, or non-insulin dependent diabetes, is caused by an over-supply of glucose in the body system. This explains why obesity is very much associated with diabetes. However, it is wrong to say that the Type 2 diabetes is caused by too much consumption of refined sugar alone because other foods also has their own glucose content, thereby, making it more proper to say that consumption of too much calories is the cause of Type 2 diabetes. This over-supply of calories in a body suffering diabetes could be worsened by obesity, old age, and most of all, an inactive and unhealthful lifestyle.