What is diabetes?

Diabetes is a condition in which the blood glucose levels in the body increase. While this is the symptom, the reason behind this is that the glucose in the blood isn’t getting transported into the cells. Once the glucose goes from the blood into the cells, it can be converted to energy when required.

The key to transporting blood glucose to cells is an enzyme called insulin. The insulin molecule attaches itself to the cells and creates an opening for blood glucose to enter the cell.

For a person with diabetes, there is less or no insulin in the body. Consequently, blood glucose is not transferred to the cells and remains in the blood stream. Some of it is eliminated by the kidneys as urine. You might have heard of Egyptians diagnosing diabetes by checking if ants get attracted to urine.

There are 2 types of diabetes:

1. Type 1 diabetes. In this condition, the body loses its ability to produce insulin because the body’s immune system decided to kill the beta cells (in the pancreas) that produce insulin. This makes type 1 diabetes an auto-immune disorder. This usually occurs with young children. I was diagnosed when I was 28 - quite late onset for type 1 diabetes.
2. Type 2 diabetes. In this condition, the body continues to make insulin. But the quantity of insulin is not sufficient. This leads to a steady increase in blood glucose levels - typically, leads to late diagnosis due to this. This usually occurs among older individuals