What is Diabetes? Causes, symptoms and effects.

Diabetes or the full name as Diabetes mellitus- is a group and a type of metabolic diseases

in which a person has high blood sugar level in his body, either because the body does not

produce enough insulin, or because cells do not respond to the insulin that is produced. This

high blood sugar produces symptoms of polyuria which means frequent urination, polydipsia

which means increased thirst and polyphagia which means increased hunger. Insulin is

basically a hormone that is responsible in regulating energy and glucose level in the body.

Insulin causes cells in liver, muscle, and fat tissue to take up glucose (simple form of sugar)

from the blood and storing it as glycogen in the liver and muscle for future use.

There are usually 3 significant types of diabetes which are the type 1 diabetes, type 2

diabetes and the gestational diabetes.

The type 1 diabetes is a form of diabetes mellitus that is resulted from autoimmune

destruction of insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas. The lacking of insulin hormone

leads to increased of blood and urine glucose. This type of diabetes can be fatal if not treated

properly. Usually type 1 diabetes is treated with insulin. Injection is the most common and

almost all people of type 1 diabetes use this method to administer insulin into their body.

Other methods such as insulin pumps and inhaled insulin are also available to type 1diabetes

patients. There is 1 permanent way to cure type 1 diabetes that is through pancreas transplant

however it is still in experimental trial stage .Most people who got type 1 diabetes are

otherwise healthy with healthy weight. The causes of type 1 diabetes is still not fully

understood but believed to be immunological origin and diet consist of high sugar intake.

Treatment for type 1 must be continued indefinitely in all cases. Usually treatment

will not impair the patient’s daily activities but most people consider the treatment as a

burden. Complications might happen to the patient if treatment is not taken in a regular basis
such as low blood sugar and high blood sugar. Low blood sugar usually leads to seizures or

unconsciousness that requires immediate attentions. High blood sugar usually leads to

increased tiredness and also can result in long term damage such as eyes and joints. Type 1

diabetes is usually called juvenile diabetes because most of the patient who got this type of

diabetes mostly is juveniles.

The second type of diabetes is type 2 diabetes is previously known as non-insulin-

dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) or adult-onset diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is

characterized by high blood glucose in the presence of insulin resistant and relative insulin

deficiency. Type 2 diabetes is different from type 1 diabetes since type 1 diabetes patients are

unable to produce insulin while type 2 diabetes patients are able to produce insulin but not

enough to convert all the sugar into glycogen. The symptoms of type 2 diabetes are quite

similar to type 1 diabetes except with the addition of weight loss (opposite of type 1

diabetes). Type 2 diabetes usually happens in adult and makes up of 90-95% of diagnosed

diabetes in adults. Type 2 diabetes usually happens as insulin resistant, a disorder in which

the cells do not use insulin properly. As the need for insulin increases in the body, the

pancreas gradually loses it’s ability to produce enough insulin. Type 2 diabetes usually is

associated with older age, obesity, family history of diabetes, history of gestational diabetes,

impaired glucose metabolism, physical inactivity, and race/ethnicity. Type 2 diabetes is

usually very rare in children. The treatments for type 2 diabetes are very similar to type 1

diabetes. Most type 2 diabetes patients can control their diabetes through healthy meal plan

and exercise program, losing excess weight, and taking oral medication. Exercising, healthy

meal plan, losing excess weight and taking oral medication are ways to reduce sugar intake to

the body so the insufficient insulin in the patient’s body are able to cope with the sugar

intake.
 The last type of diabetes known is gestational diabetes. This type of diabetes is a form

of glucose intolerance during pregnancy which means it only happens to women who are

pregnant. It is usually more common to be found on obese pregnant women and women with

a family history of diabetes. During pregnancy, women with gestational diabetes must be

treated to normalize maternal blood glucose level to avoid any complications to the infant.

It’s found that immediately after pregnancy, 5-10% of women with gestational diabetes are

found to have diabetes, usually type 2. Women who have had gestational diabetes have a 40

to 60 % chance of developing diabetes in the next 5 to 10 years.

Other types of diabetes result from specific genetic conditions, such as maturity-onset

diabetes of youth; surgery; medications; infections; pancreatic disease; and other illnesses.

Such types of diabetes account for 1 to 5 percent of all diagnosed cases which are pretty rare.

Diabetes is related to rice. Rice is a cereal, cereal are rich sources of complex

carbohydrates, carbohydrates are basically monosaccharide sugars and when consumed are

converted into sugar into your blood stream. Many of the diabetic countries people do

consume rice and overconsumptions might bring diabetes. Consumptions of rice are not

greatly encouraged towards diabetic patients.

 As we can see all the statistics above are referring that diabetes is a serious disease that is

getting worse all over the world.