What is diabetes?

When your blood glucose, commonly known as blood sugar, is too high, you develop diabetes. Your primary energy source is blood glucose, which is obtained from the food you eat. The pancreas produces the hormone insulin, which facilitates the entry of food-derived glucose into your cells for energy production. Your body occasionally produces insufficient or no insulin, or it uses insulin poorly. After that, glucose remains in your circulation and does not enter your cells.
Over time, health issues might result from having too much glucose in the blood. Despite the fact that there is no treatment for diabetes, you can manage it and maintain your health.

What are the different types of diabetes?

The most common types of diabetes are type 1, type 2, and gestational diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes

Those who have type 1 diabetes cannot produce insulin in their bodies. Your immune system targets and kills the insulin-producing cells in your pancreas.

Although it can develop at any age, type 1 diabetes is typically diagnosed in children and young people. To stay alive, people with type 1 diabetes must take insulin every day.

Type 2 diabetes

If you have type 2 diabetes, your body does not produce enough insulin or use it effectively. Type 2 diabetes can strike at any age, even in infancy. However, middle-aged and older people are most likely to develop this type of diabetes. The majority of cases of diabetes are type 2.

Gestational diabetes

Some women experience the onset of gestational diabetes during pregnancy. Most of the time, this type of diabetes goes away after the baby is born. However, if you had gestational diabetes, your risk of getting type 2 diabetes in the future is higher. Type 2 diabetes can occasionally be detected during pregnancy.

How common is diabetes?

In the United States, 30.3 million people, or 9.4% of the population, had diabetes as of 2015. More than one in four of them didn’t know about their disease. One in four adults over 65 has diabetes. Type 2 diabetes affects 90–95% of adult patients.