Diabetes

Diabetes is a disease that affects the amount of insulin the body produces. Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas. It allows sugar to enter cells in the body. The sugar is then used as energy, or stored in fat, liver, or muscle cells for later use. Without insulin, the body cannot turn sugar or other carbohydrates into the energy it needs to function.

If the body isn’t producing enough insulin, it is called Type I diabetes. Type I diabetes is often called juvenile diabetes, as it is most often diagnosed in children or teenagers. Type II diabetes is caused by the cells in the body having a much slower than normal response to insulin. Although the body is producing enough insulin, the cells are insulin-resistant. Another form of diabetes is gestational diabetes. This is a condition where the body has become temporarily resistant to insulin due to a pregnancy. It occurs in 5% of pregnant women, and usually disappears shortly after delivery.

Type I diabetes is an autoimmune disease. An autoimmune disease happens when the body behaves inappropriately, and starts attacking its own cells the same way it would attack an infection. In Type I diabetes, the body destroys the cells that produce insulin. This sometimes follows an infection such as influenza, encephalitis, or the mumps. It can also be a hereditary disease. Trauma to the pancreas may also cause Type I diabetes, as can any other disease that affects the pancreas.

When most people think about diabetes, they are thinking about Type II. There are many things that can cause Type II diabetes. Many of these causes are the result of poor lifestyle choices. Obesity, especially if much of the extra weight is located around the abdomen, can lead to diabetes. A diet lacking in nutrition, especially fiber and protein, can also lead to diabetes, as can eating too much refined products, like white bread. A sedentary lifestyle can contribute to diabetes as well.

Some causes of diabetes cannot be helped. As people age, their chances of getting diabetes may increase. In fact, most adult-onset diabetes cases are diagnosed after the person has turned 50. Having a family history of diabetes may also increase a person’s risk, as diabetes has been found to be a hereditary disease. If both parents are diabetic, the risk for diabetes goes up considerably.

Strephylococci, and other infections that affect the pancreas, may cause diabetes. Hypertension can also increase a person’s risk of developing this condition. Some prescription drugs, such as Clozapine or Quetiapine, increase the chance of diabetes. Women who have had multiple pregnancies, gestational diabetes, or who suffer from polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) have more of a risk than other women, and women in general develop diabetes more often than men. Stress can also cause diabetes.

Knowing your risk level for developing diabetes is the first step to preventing it. Making lifestyle changes and scheduling regular check-ups with your physician can also help prevent diabetes. Improved nutrition and exercise can do a lot to prevent, or at least delay, the onset of diabetes. Losing 5-10% of your body weight, especially if you are overweight or obese, can greatly reduce your risk of developing diabetes. Understanding how diabetes develops, and knowing what you can do to prevent it, is the best way to reduce your risk of developing this disease.

Because there are two very different types of diabetes, type 1 and type 2, there cannot be said that there is a universal diabetes cure. Type 2 diabetes can be cured or at least dramatically improved with significant lifestyle changes, but currently there is no cure for type 1 diabetes that is available to the public.

Type 2 diabetes occurs when a person's body becomes resistant to the insulin it produces. Although these people typically have more insulin in their bodies than would normally be needed, their bodies cannot use it efficiently in order to process sugars as energy. This condition is typically treated with drugs to resensitize the body to its own insulin.

However, because insulin resistance is often related to lifestyle factors such as obesity, poor diet, and lack of exercise, type 2 diabetes can be controlled or even completely reversed if the diabetic is willing to change their lifestyle. Losing weight, adhering to a more healthful diet, and exercising regularly act as an important potential diabetes cure for type 2 diabetes if the changes are followed conscientiously.

Type 1 diabetes, on the other hand, is a condition where the person's insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, or islet cells, have been destroyed, making it impossible for the diabetic to make their own insulin. The body's own immune system destroys these cells, in what is known as an autoimmune response. The trigger for this autoimmune response is not known, but the predisposition to having it happen is genetic — in other words, for a person who has the genetic predisposition, it is a question of when, and not if, they will become diabetic.

Because of this autoimmune response, a pancreas transplant is not a permanent diabetes cure. Currently, researchers are studying methods of transplanting islet cells into diabetics via the bloodstream, but these studies show that eventually the transplanted islet cells are destroyed and the person becomes insulin-dependent again. Although medications can suppress the immune system and prevent this from happening, islet cell transplants do not really constitute a diabetes cure by themselves. In studies that have been done on islet cell transplants, even with medication less than a quarter of transplants lasted for more than three years.

Before a complete and permanent type 1 diabetes cure can be realized, doctors will need to be able to stop the autoimmune response. Researchers are currently working on vaccines to stop the autoimmune response, but so far nothing has been made available to the public.

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