The types of Diabetes

The Classification types of Diabetes are based on the cause of the type of diabetes. Insulin is the hormone that assists the body to utilize its sugar as fuel. Advanced understanding of the production, utilization, and processes of this hormone has led to a change in classification in the Types of Diabetes.

 Previously Diabetes was classified based on the treatment given but that has changed. Whether your body is able to produce its own insulin or not, will predict the kind of Diabetes that you have, by about 90%.

Recognizable types of Diabetes are three;

Type 1 Diabetes.

This typically occurs when the body fails to produce any insulin at all or very little Insulin. This results in a relative or absolute deficiency of insulin in the body.

So the hallmark of type 1 diabetes is Insulin deficiency. When the body lacks Insulin, the Sugar cannot penetrate into cells to be used for the production of energy; Insulin works as the key that opens the Sugar gates of the body cells. Once the sugar fails to enter the cells, the result is raised levels of sugar in your blood.

The most common and studied cause of the failure of the body to produce insulin is an autoimmune destruction of the Insulin-producing cells in the Pancreas. The pancreas is the gland that is responsible for producing Insulin, it is located just below the Stomach. The immune system erroneously considers that the Insulin-producing cells of the Pancreas are foreign bodies like they don’t belong to your body. So the immune system does what it does to all foreign bodies or particles in the body, it attacks them and destroys them.

Currently, the cause of this destructive process is not fully understood, but a combination of  some predisposing factors have been implicated;

•  infection with viruses; mumps ,measles, cytomegalovirus, Rubella & infectious mononucleosis.
• Environmental  toxins
• some dietary factors

 It is usually difficult to determine when the destruction of these Insulin-producing cells starts. It is a fact that it is a chronic autoimmune attack, but the onset of symptoms is usually abrupt. And the disease may present as an acute condition

Type 1 diabetes is a rare type, it represents about 10 % of all the diabetes cases in the world population.

Type 1 diabetes is not preventable. It is common in young people less than 15 years old and onset is usually below the age of 30yrs. People with type 1 diabetes are not usually Obese, but they may be overweight.

Type 2 Diabetes

Type 2 diabetes happens when the body develops an inability to respond appropriately to insulin. The insulin-producing cells may produce enough insulin but because of various factors, the body cells in the Liver and muscles fail to use this Insulin. This state of affairs is referred to as insulin resistance and is the hallmark of type 2 diabetes. This resistance to Insulin action happens predominately in the Liver cells and in the muscle cells.

Insulin resistance causes a decrease in the uptake of sugar in the muscles and an increase in the production of more sugar from the liver. These two problems result in a high amount of sugar in the blood at any one time. Chronic insulin resistance over time leads to a state of relative inadequate Insulin production. For type 2 diabetes mellitus to occur, both Insulin resistance and inadequate Insulin secretion usually exist together.

factors known to lead to Insulin resistance;

• High fat diet
• High calorie diets
• Steroid use; dexamethasone and prednisolone
• Physical inactivity
• Chronic Inflammatory state of the body
• Hormonal syndromes
• Drugs; phenytoin and estrogens
• Adiposity(distribution of fat on the body)
• Other environmental toxins.

Type 2 diabetes accounts for 90-95% 0f all Diabetic patients in the world. It is the most common type of diabetes. Despite this, it is the most preventable type of Diabetes.

This type of diabetes is reversible, it was thought to be a disease of middle-aged and elderly people, however, it is now increasingly seen in Adolescents and children.

Gestational diabetes

Gestational diabetes results from pregnancy. This is diabetes that develops because a woman is pregnant. It results from a combination of many factors; like the diet of the pregnant mother, the changes in hormones during pregnancy, and a weight gain in a short period of time in pregnancy.

The symptoms and signs of gestational diabetes are similar to the other two types of Diabetes.

danger of sugar in pregnancy

High blood sugar during pregnancy is not good for the health of the mother and her baby.

Diabetes in pregnancy may lead to delivering an immature baby or worse still a dead baby.

However gestational diabetes usually improves after the woman has delivered her baby. Women who suffer from gestational Diabetes usually end up suffering from type 2 diabetes later in life.

Be in the know to fight Diabetes visit us often at dimpedibateshealthpro.com for special knowledge on diabetes.

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