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Author:
Eliu Cordova

Believe it or not, there are two different types of diabetes. The two types of diabetes, are insulin-dependent and noninsulin-dependent. They are considered two different disorders. While the causes, short-term effects, and treatments for the two types differ, both can cause the same long-term health problems. Both types also affect the body's ability to use digested food for energy. Diabetes doesn't interfere with digestion, but it does prevent the body from using an important product of digestion, glucose, or sugar, for energy.

After a meal the digestive system breaks some food down into glucose. The blood carries the glucose or sugar throughout the body, causing blood glucose levels to rise. In response to this rise the hormone insulin is released into the bloodstream to signal the body tissues to metabolize or burn the glucose for fuel, causing blood glucose levels to return to normal. A gland called the pancreas, found just behind the stomach, makes insulin. Glucose that the body doesn't use right away goes to the liver, muscles or fat for storage.

In someone with diabetes, this process doesn't work properly. In people with insulin-dependent diabetes, the pancreas does not produce insulin. This condition usually begins in childhood and is also known as type I (formerly called juvenile-onset) diabetes. People with this kind of diabetes must have daily insulin injections for the rest of their lives in order to survive.

In people with noninsulin-dependent diabetes the pancreas usually produces some insulin, but the body's tissue doesn't respond very well to the insulin signal and, therefore, doesn't metabolize the glucose properly. This condition is known as insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is an important factor in noninsulin-dependent diabetes.

The goals of diabetes treatment are to keep blood glucose within normal range and to prevent long-term complications.

Why control blood glucose? In the first place, diabetes can cause short-term effects: some are unpleasant and some are dangerous. These include thirst, frequent urination, weakness, lack of ability to concentrate, loss of coordination, and blurred vision. Loss of consciousness is possible with very high or low blood sugar levels, but is more of a danger in insulin-dependent than in noninsulin-dependent diabetes.

In the second place, the long-term complications of diabetes may result from many years of high blood glucose. Research is under way to find out if this is true and to learn if careful control can help prevent complications. Meanwhile, most doctors feel that if people with diabetes keep their blood glucose levels under control, they will reduce the risk of complications.

In 1986, a National Institutes of Health panel of experts recommended that the best treatment for noninsulin-dependent diabetes is a diet that helps the person maintain normal weight. In people who are overweight, losing weight is the one treatment that is clearly effective in controlling diabetes. However, controlling insulin dependent diabetes is a bit different than noninsulin-dependent. Although proper diet and exercise is effective for controlling both types of diabetes, with insulin dependent diabetes daily insulin injections are required.

As of today, there is no known cure for diabetes; daily treatment must continue throughout a person's lifetime. Knowing which type of diabetes you have is the first step in determining the treatment that is right for you.

About the Author
Eliu Cordova is a health author and co-creator of http://diabetes-management.net. This website was created to help diabetes sufferers with diabetes management.

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A Quick Note From The Publisher... If you like the article above, you may be interested in the following article which is also related to Diabetes Guides... The Benefits Of Working With Your Physician To Develop A Healthy Diabetes Diet In the Untied States, a fairly large number of individuals, including adults and children, have been diagnosed with diabetes. When it comes to diabetes, a large amount of focus is placed on healthy eating habits. Unfortunately, many individuals, even those with diabetes are unsure what those healthy eating habits entail and the importance of following them. If you are one of those individuals, you may want to consider seeking assistance from your primary care physician. If and when you are diagnosed with diabetes, it is likely that you will either receive a diagnosis of type 1 diabetes or type 2 diabetes. While you would think that these different types of diabetes are similar, they are not always. For that reason, you will find that type 1 diabetes often requires a different diet plan than type 2 diabetes. This is when many individuals start to get confused. Many are largely unaware of the fact that different diabetes types require different treatment options and food intake. That is why it is best that you seek advice from or develop a diabetes diet with your primary case physician. When developing a diabetes diet with your healthcare provider, you will find that if you are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes your diet will have a focus on carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are known to help maintain the control of blood sugar. Many of the individuals classified as having type 2 diabetes often have a problem with their weight. That problem is often obesity; thus, the focus on healthy foods, especially those that are known to have an impact on weight loss. Simply being told to eat more carbohydrates, for type 1 diabetes, or lose weight, for type 2 diabetes, is not enough. That is why it is advised that you seek assistance from a professional, even if you feel that it is not...