Type 1 Diabetes Paper

According to Dr. Kishore who wrote the “Diabetes Mellitus” article in 2014 for the Merck Manual, Diabetes Mellitus is commonly known as Diabetes, and it is a chronic condition in which blood sugar, or glucose, levels are abnormally elevated because adequate insulin is not produced by the body to meet required needs.

Insulin is a hormone released from the pancreas which controls the amount of glucose in the blood (Kishore, 2014). The pancreas is stimulated by glucose in the bloodstream in order to produce insulin. Insulin is needed to help transport glucose from the blood into the cells of the body. The glucose is then transformed into energy for the body once inside the cells. The glucose levels in the blood vary throughout the day and is

Pre-diabetes is a condition in which blood glucose levels are higher than normal but aren’t high enough to be considered diabetes (Kishore, 2014). Type 1 diabetes is formally known as insulin-dependent diabetes or juvenile diabetes. In type 1 diabetes, the body’s immune system acts against the insulin producing cells of the pancreas, and over 90% of those cells are destroyed permanently (Kishore, 2014). The pancreas is left with no choice but to produce a very small amount of insulin or none at all. For this reason, sugar is not able to reach into the body’s cells to be used for energy (Cleveland Clinic, 2013). Of all the people living with diabetes, only about ten percent live with Type 1 diabetes (Kishore, 2014). Type 2 diabetes is formally known as non-insulin dependent diabetes or adult-onset diabetes. In this type, the pancreas sometimes produce insulin at higher levels than normal. Unfortunately, the body then develops a resistance against the effects of insulin. At this point, there is not enough insulin to meet the needs of the body (Kishore, 2014). Type 2 diabetes usually begins in people older than the age of

“Nine out of ten people with diabetes have type 2” (Cleveland Clinic, 2013). It mostly affected said older adults, but it has recently become more common in young children and adolescents than before. “About 27% of people older than 65 have type 2 diabetes,” Dr. Kishore stated. Type diabetes commonly runs within families, and they are more common in certain races more so than others. Blacks, Asian Americans, Hispanics, and American Indians who reside in the United States are at an extremely higher risk of acquiring type 2 diabetes than whites (Kishore, 2014). One factor that greatly contributes to the risk of developing type 2 diabetes is obesity. Amongst the people with type 2 diabetes in the country, about 80-90% are obese or overweight. Obesity may be considered the greatest risk factor for type 2 diabetes. Insulin resistance is caused by obesity. Therefore, people who are extremely overweight or obese need huge amounts of insulin to maintain blood glucose levels in good standing (Kishore,