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Diabetes mellitus is a progressive disease in which body
doesn't make or respond properly to insulin.
Insulin is a hormone made in the pancreas. It's used to convert sugar,
starches and other foods into energy.
Diabetes is defined as fasting blood glucose of 126 milligrams per
deciliter (mg/dL) or more measured on two occasions.
Type 1, also known as juvenile diabetes, appears at younger ages. In it,
the pancreas stops making insulin. Without shots of insulin, people with
type 1 diabetes won't survive.
Type 2, also known as adult-onset diabetes, is the most common form. It
appears most often in middle-aged adults. It develops when the body doesn't
make enough insulin, doesn't efficiently use the insulin it makes (insulin
resistance) or both.
Persistent high levels of blood glucose cause.
These symptoms can include:
1· Hunger.
2· Extreme thirst.
3· Frequent urination.
4· Weight loss.
5· Fatigue.
6· Blurry vision.
Diabetes is very dangerous.
Facts:
1· Diabetes kills more than 60,000 Americans each year. Its complications
contribute to another 190,000 deaths.
2· People with diabetes are two to four times more likely to have
o Heart disease
o Stroke.
o Their heart disease also tends to be more severe.
o They have a higher risk of congestive heart failure and other
complications.
3· Diabetes causes nerve damage in the heart.
o This makes painless heart attacks more likely and harder to diagnose.
o Heart attacks are more likely to be fatal in people who have diabetes
than in those who don't.
4· Diabetes tends to
o Lower "good" HDL cholesterol,
o Raise "bad" LDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels. This
increases the risk of heart disease and stroke.
5· 85 % of people with diabetes are overweight or obese. Many have high
blood pressure
Diabetes also can cause or lead to:
1· Blindness.
2· Kidney disease.
3· Nerve disease.
4· Limb amputations.
5· Depression
Two out of three people with diabetes die from CVD. (CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE
People with diabetes can reduce their risk for cardiovascular disease.
1· Eat right and exercise
2· Lose weight if type 2
Major risk factors for CVD
1· Smoking
2· High cholesterol
3· High blood pressure
4· Physical inactivity
5· Obesity and overweight
6· Diabetes mellitus
7· High Homocystein
8· High CRP
9· Untreated bacterial infections
Insulin resistance
Insulin resistance occurs when the body can't use insulin efficiently. To
compensate, the pancreas releases more and more insulin to try to keep
blood sugar levels normal. Gradually, the insulin-producing cells in the
pancreas become defective and ultimately decrease in total number. As a
result, blood sugar levels begin to rise, causing full-blown diabetes to
develop.
This is why insulin resistance is considered a core metabolic dysfunction
of type 2 diabetes.
Hyperglycemia (too much glucose in the blood) and hyperinsulinemia (too
much insulin in the blood) in a fasting individual indicate a person may
have insulin resistance.
Insulin Resistance and Heart Disease
Adults with diabetes are two to four times more likely to have heart
disease or suffer a stroke than adults without diabetes.
Insulin resistance, a condition where the body cannot use the insulin it
produces effectively, is both
-A core metabolic dysfunction associated with type 2 diabetes and
-A key contributor to the increased risk for heart disease and stroke.
Insulin resistance is associated with blood lipid imbalances, such as an
1- increased ratio of small low-density lipoprotein (LDL or "bad"
cholesterol),
2- low levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL or "good"
cholesterol), and
3- increased levels of triglycerides,
which cause atherosclerosis
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