Before we start discussion about type of diabetes we must know what exactly is diabetes? Diabetes is a disorder of metabolism–the digestion system of our body for growth and energy. Almost every food we eat broken down to glucose, the sugar or form that is the fuel for our body. After digestion, glucose passes into the bloodstream, where it’s used by cells for growth and energy.

Glucose

For glucose to get into cells, insulin must be present. Insulin is a hormone made by the pancreas, a large gland behind the stomach. When we eat, the pancreas automatically produces the right amount of insulin to move glucose from blood into our cells. For those people having diabetes that is the location of disease, there pancreas either produces little or no insulin, or the cells don’t respond appropriately to the insulin that is produced.

Autoimmune disorder

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disorder. An autoimmune disease occurs when the body’s system for fighting disease ceases in a portion of body. In diabetes, the immune system attacks the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas and destroys them. The pancreas then produces little or no insulin. Someone that has type 1 diabetes must take insulin daily to live. The most common form of diabetes is type 2 diabetes. Nearly 90 to 95 percent of individuals with diabetes have type 2. This kind of diabetes is strongly genetic.

About 80 percent of people with type 2 diabetes are overweight. Type 2 diabetes is increasingly being diagnosed in children and teens. However, type 2 diabetes in youth aren’t in common. When type 2 diabetes is diagnosed, the pancreas is usually producing enough insulin, but for unknown reasons, the body can’t use the insulin effectively, a condition called insulin resistance. After several years, insulin production decreases.

Remember

The outcome is exactly the same as for type 1 diabetes–glucose builds up in the blood and the body can’t make efficient use of its main source of fuel. Gestational diabetes develops only during pregnancy. Like type 2 diabetes, it occurs more frequently in African Americans, American Indians, Hispanic Americans, and among women with a family history of diabetes. Women who have had gestational diabetes have a 20 to 50 percent chance of developing type 2 diabetes within 5 to ten years.