Nearly 1 in 10 Americans are diagnosed with diabetes, and about 1 in 5 people don’t even know they have diabetes, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. The increasing number of diabetes diagnoses in the US is a major cause for concern, and the CDC has reported that people are getting diagnosed at younger ages than ever before.
Fortunately, modern medicine has allowed people diagnosed with diabetes to live longer. The discovery of injectable insulin over 100 years ago has been vital in treating people with diabetes. Diabetes is a chronic disease that is diagnosed when a person’s body does not produce insulin, or their body can’t use the insulin properly. Insulin is a hormone produced in the pancreas that regulates blood sugar or blood glucose.
In Type 1 diabetes, the pancreas fails to produce insulin due to the body’s immune system targeting and destroying the insulin-producing islet cells within the pancreas. In Type 2 diabetes, the pancreas generates less insulin than before, and the body develops insulin resistance, meaning it still has insulin but loses its ability to utilize it effectively. According to UVA Health, “Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disorder, and it is unknown why the immune system attacks the pancreatic islet cells that produce insulin. In contrast, Type 2 diabetes is usually diagnosed in people who have too much body fat and can be prevented with a healthy lifestyle.”
The World Health Organization shared that symptoms of both types of diabetes can include hunger, extreme thirst, fatigue, blurred vision, and unexplained weight loss. Over time, diabetes can damage blood vessels in the heart, eyes, kidneys, and nerves, putting people with diabetes at a higher risk for health problems including heart attack, stroke, and kidney failure.
Prediabetes is a medical condition caused by blood glucose levels that are higher than normal but not high enough to be classified as diabetes. More than 1 in 3 Americans are prediabetic, and more than 80% of people don’t know they have it, according to the CDC. If you are prediabetic, the American Diabetes Association recommends preventive measures including weight loss, regular exercise, a healthy diet, and working with a healthcare provider to reverse prediabetes.