Diabetes - Type 1 and Type 2

Diabetes is a very common disease all over the world. In America about sixteen million people are diagnosed with diabetes and about five million people are not aware whether they are diabetic or not. Diabetes mellitus has been the cause of millions of death each year all over the world in the last century.
Diabetes mellitus or diabetes is a set of symptoms caused by disordered metabolism. It is generally caused by hereditary reasons combined with environmental causes. A diabetes patient has high blood sugar level (hyperglycemia). The glucose levels in the blood are controlled or determined by the complex interactions of many body chemicals like hormone insulin coming from the beta cells of the pancreas. It is a group of disorders or diseases that lead to high sugar (glucose) level in the blood due to abnormalities in insulin secretion or due to the action of insulin in body. Diabetes is mainly of two types, Type 1 and Type 2.



There are various symptoms of diabetes and the symptoms depend upon the type of diabetes. Diabetes Type 1 is caused when the pancreas does not produce insulin possibly due to viral attacks. The body cells therefore do not get the glucose needed for producing Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP). The early symptoms of Type 1 diabetes is nausea and vomiting. In an advanced stage it becomes ketoacidosis when body consumes the fat to produce energy and hence fast weight loss occurs and in most cases the person goes to coma and death occurs.
Type 2 diabetes is due to the reduced sensitivity of the body towards insulin. The body tissues do not respond to the insulin. This type of diabetes is most common and the common symptoms are:
• Increased fatigue: feeling of tiredness increases as body can not metabolize glucose and it consumes body fat to burn energy.
• Thirsty feeling: to dilute the glucose concentration in the body the body wants more water and feels thirsty.




• Increased rate of urination: body tends to excretes out the extra glucose in the blood and in the urine.
• Increased hunger : as insulin secretion increases there is a feeling of increased hunger as insulin is also responsible for the feeling of hunger.
• Weight fluctuation: due to excessive appetite, the weight might increase and due to excessive glucose level it might decrease hence the body weight fluctuates.
• Blurry vision: diabetes patients suffer from blurry vision as body fluids are pulled out from body tissues including the eyes.
• Irritability: A diabetic patient shows irritability.
• Infections: the body tends to get more infected and less immune.
• Poor blood clotting: the wounds do not get healed at a normal rate. Blood glucose inhibits the growth of white blood cells which is responsible for clotting and hence the healing is very slow in a diabetic patient.
Diet plays a very important role in regulating diabetes. A diabetic diet is used with doses of insulin or with oral drugs. The main diet may be used alone or else in combination with insulin doses or with oral hypoglycemic drugs. The main purpose of a diet for diabetic patient is to maintain the body weight which is ideal for the body. The diet should have proper nutrition and should maintain the proper levels of blood sugar in the blood. The diabetic diet plan is based on the weight, sex, age, physical activity, glucose level in blood and the nature of diabetes. Other complications like cholesterol level, high blood pressure should also be considered when planning such a diet.

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