jmcgready’s misc universe

With weight gain at an all time high and
health care an all time low, Diabetes is a problem
in this country which continues to grow.

Diabetes is a metabolic disease.
Metabolism is how our bodies convert digested food
to energy for growth.

Most food is processed by our bodies, broken
down by digestive juices into a sugar called glucose.
Glucose is what fuels our bodies.

When we eat, as our food is processed, the pancreas is
supposed to automatically produce the right amount of glucose
and automatically release the right amount of insulin
into our bloodstream.

In people with diabetes, either the body’s cells produce
little (or no) insulin or the body’s cells don’t respond
correctly to the insulin that is produced.
So the glucose builds up and eventually
passes out of the body and into the urine .

This is how the body can lose its main source of fuel
even though the bloodstream could contain
high amounts of glucose.

There are three types of diabetes, type 1, type 2 and
gestational diabetes. People who have type 1 are known as
insulin-dependent.

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease where the body’s natural
system is fighting against the body itself.
In the case of type 1 diabetes, the system attacks insulin
producing cells, destroying them.

As a result, the pancreas can produce little to no insulin.
People with Type 1 diabetes are in need of daily injections
of insulin to live.

Five to ten percent of diabetes cases are type 1 in the US.