Diabetes is a disorder in the body’s ability to use blood sugar (glucose). Glucose is the main source of energy for the human body. It is taken from the starches and sugars that people eat. It travels through the bloodstream, circulating throughout the body.

Normally, the body’s tissues can absorb the glucose and use it for energy with the help of insulin. Produced by the pancreas (an organ behind the stomach), insulin is a hormone secreted in response to the natural increase in blood sugar after a meal. Unless the body has enough insulin and the ability to use insulin properly, glucose will simply build up in the bloodstream and then get flushed from the body in the urine, rather than go into the cells to feed them. Therefore, people with untreated diabetes may have dangerously high blood sugar levels. These high blood sugar levels can lead to a variety of symptoms (e.g., weakness, thirst) in the short-term, and serious consequences such as heart attack, stroke or other consequences of diabetes in the long-term.

Diabetes has a significant genetic component, those with one or more diabetic relatives are advised to be especially vigilant in maintaining a low-fat, low-to-moderate sugar diet and exercising regularly. A quick, simple blood test or urinalysis can check for diabetes.

There are two types of diabetes: type 1 and type 2. Type 1 is thought to be caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors that results in a lack, or complete absence, of insulin. For reasons largely unknown, the body’s immune system attacks itself, destroying over 90 percent of its own insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas.

Much more common, type 2 diabetes has been linked to obesity (a body mass index or BMI of 30 or greater), inactivity and being over 40 years old. Diabetes can also be caused by drug use, the use of certain steroids, or pregnancy (a temporary complication known as gestational diabetes)

Before the discovery of insulin in 1921, the long-term prognosis for diabetics was poor. Today, most diabetes can be managed and controlled with a combination of insulin treatment (either medications or injections) and lifestyle modifications. Other methods of administering insulin, such as nasal sprays and skin patches, are currently being researched.