What Is Diabetes Mellitus?

The number of people in the world suffering from diabetes has skyrocketed in the last two decades, from 30 million to 230 million, claiming millions of lives and severely tax the capacity of the health systemsto of the epidemic, according to data published Saturday, the International Diabetes Federation.

What is diabetes?
Diabetes is a disease in which the body can not store and use fuel for energy. Fuel that your body needs is called glucose, a form of sugar. Glucose comes from foods such as bread, cereals, pasta, rice, potatoes, fruits and some vegetables. To use glucose, your body needs insulin. Insulin is produced in the body called the pancreas gland. There are three types of diabetes: type 1, type 2 and gestational diabetes. Gestational diabetes occurs only during pregnancy.

Types of Diabetes
Diabetes mellitus is a heterogeneous disease with many clinical cases. The two main types of diabetes exist, idiopathic and secondary.

Idiopathic diabetes is divided into two main types, insulin and insulin depenedent. Diabetes mellitus insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (type 1) is defined by the development of ketoacidosis in the absence of insulin. Type 1 diabetes is most often seen in children (and therefore called juvenile diabetes) and is the result of the autoimmune destruction of pancreatic B cells. Insulin-dependent diabetes (type 2) is characterized by persistent hyperglycemia but rarely leads to ketoacidosis. Type 2 diabetes usually appears after age 40 and therefore has the obsolete name of adult onset diabetes types. Type 2 diabetes can cause genetic defects that cause insulin resistance and insulin deficiency. There are two main forms of type 2 diabetes:

1. Late-onset obesity.
2. Later, the appearance is not associated with obesity.

Meal Example
Choose foods you like and which satisfy you, and include carbohydrate foods in each meal to help control the level of glucose in the blood. You can eat your main meal at lunch or dinner.

Get help immediately if symptoms of diabetes
Sometimes the onset of diabetes - particularly Type 1 - can be abrupt. This can lead to a condition called "ketoacidosis, which is a medical emergency. Symptoms of this disease are loss of appetite, weight loss, vomiting, excessive passing of urine, altered consciousness, and finally the coma. Consult a doctor immediately if these symptoms occur.