Your Diet and Type 2 Diabetes continued
What Is Diabetes?
Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder with abnormally high blood glucose levels (hyperglycemia) as its most prominent feature.
During intestinal digestion, carbohydrates and proteins are broken down into simple sugars and amino acids, respectively.
The liver converts all of the sugars and some of the amino acids into glucose, a simple sugar that is used for energy by every cell in the body.
Glucose passes from the bloodstream into the cells with the help of insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas (a pear-shaped organ located just below the stomach).
By attaching to receptor sites on the surface membrane of a cell, insulin promotes the movement of glucose-transport proteins from the interior of the cell to its surface, where they bind with glucose and carry it into the cell.
In diabetes mellitus, several problems may interfere with this process: pancreatic insulin production may be partially or completely impaired, or body cells may become unable to respond to normal amounts of insulin efficiently.
In Type 2 diabetes mellitus, also once known as adult-onset diabetes, insulin production by the pancreas is only moderately reduced, but your cells are unable to respond efficiently to insulin—a condition referred to as insulin resistance.
Insulin resistance is thought to be a forerunner of diabetes.
The onset of type 2 diabetes is usually gradual and tends to affect people over age 40, particularly those who are overweight.
Infrequently, an adult may develop type 1 diabetes. In Type 1 diabetes, the pancreas makes no insulin. It used to be referred to as juvenile diabetes, but now, because we are seeing so many young people with Type 2, it is no longer classified in that manner.
Diet and Disease Prevention Part 11
Your Diet and Type 2 Diabetes continued
