What is Diabetes?

Diabetes is a metabolic disorder dealing with insulin produced by the pancreas. During digestion, much of the food we eat is broken down into glucose, or sugar, in the blood. Glucose is the bodyís main source of fuel. In order for glucose to go from the bloodstream into the cells, insulin must be present. Insulin is usually produced automatically by the pancreas when we eat to help with this movement of glucose into the cells, however, in people with diabetes, the pancreas creates either little or no insulin, and the glucose does not get into the cells, and is passed out of the body through urine. Without glucose, the body will lose its main source of fuel.

Diabetes is the 6th leading cause of death in the United States, however most, about 65%, of deaths of diabetic patients are attributed to heart disease and stroke. Diabetes can often lead to blindness, stroke, kidney failure, amputation, and can even complicate pregnancies and increase birth defects.

History of Diabetes

Although diabetes has been around forever, the fact that the pancreas had a great deal to do with diabetes was not discovered until 1889, when European researchers conducted a variety of tests. When researches Joseph con Mering and Oskar Minkowski removed the pancreas from a dog, the dog developed all signs of diabetes and soon died. 20 years later, Sir Edward Albert Sharpey-Schager decided that diabetics are those who lack one chemical, which became known as insulin. Insula is derived from Latin, and means island, which refers to the islets of Langerhans that produce insulin in the pancreas. In 1921, two researches, Sir Frederick Grant Banting and Charles Herbert Best performed the same experiment that their predecessors had performed on the dog, however after the dogs began suffering from diabetes, they were given an extract from the pancreatic islets of Langerhans of healthy dogs. This discovery led to the first clinically treated patient in 1922.

Statistics

• In 2006, according to the World Health Organization, 171 million people suffer from diabetes, and the number is expected to doubly by 2030.
• There are more than 20 million diagnosed diabetics in the United States, and approximately 6.2 million of those are undiagnosed patients in the United States
• Due to the environment, changing diet and lifestyle of the world, Asia and Africa are expected to develop the most diabetic patients by 2030.
• Diabetes costs can reach $132 billion in the US every year.
• In America, 1 out of every 3 children born after 2000 will develop diabetes at some point in their life.