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Diabetes
Diabetes is a growing
problem in this country. With
our
population at an all time high
in weight gain and a low in
health care, the problem is
only growing.
Diabetes is a disease of the
metabolism. Our metabolism
is
what the way our bodies use
digested food for energy
and
growth.
Most food that is processed
through our bodies is
broken
down by digestive juices into a
sugar called glucose.
Glucose is the fuel our bodies
run on.
When we eat, and our food is
processed, the pancreas is
supposed to produce the right
amount of glucose from our
blood automatically and release
the right amount of insulin
into our blood.
In people with diabetes,
little to no insulin is
produced
or the bodys cells dont respond
correctly to the insulin
that is produced. Therefore the
glucose builds up and
overflows into the urine and
passes out of the body.
This is how the body loses
its main source of fuel
even
though the bloodstream contains
good amounts of the natural
glucose.
There are three types of
diabetes, type 1, type 2
and
gestational diabetes. People
who have type 1 are known
as
insulin-dependent.
This is an autoimmune
disease where the bodys
natural
system is fighting against
another part of the body. In
the
case of type 1 diabetes, the
system attacks the insulin
producing cells and destroys
them.
Therefore the pancreas can
produce little to no
insulin.
These people are in need of
daily injections of insulin
to
live. Five to ten percent of
diabetes cases are type 1
in
the US.
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