Facts about Diabetes and Insulin
 
Facts about Diabetes and Insulin
Diabetes is a very common disease, which,           if not treated, can be very dangerous. There are two types of diabetes.           They were once called juvenile-onset diabetes and adult diabetes.           However, today we know that all ages can get both types so they are simply called type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
Type 1, which occurs in approximately 10 percent of all cases, is an     autoimmune disease in which the immune system, by mistake, attacks     its own insulin-producing cells so that insufficient amounts of insulin     are produced - or no     insulin at all. Type 1 affects predominantly young people and usually     makes its debut before the age of 30,     and most frequently between the ages of 10 and 14.
Type 2, which makes up the remaining 90 percent of diabetes cases,     commonly affects patients during the second half of their lives.     The cells of the body no longer react to insulin as they should.     This is called insulin resistance.
In the early 1920s, Frederick Banting, John Macleod, George Best     and Bertram Collip isolated the hormone insulin and purified it so     that it could be administered to humans. This was a major breakthrough     in the treatment of diabetes type 1.
 
Insulin
Insulin is a hormone. Hormones are chemical           substances that regulate the cells of the body and are produced by           special glands. The hormone insulin is a main regulator of the glucose     (sugar) levels in the blood.
Insulin is produced in the pancreas. To be more specific, it's     produced by the beta cells in the islets of Langerhans in the pancreas.     When we eat, glucose levels rise, and insulin is released into the     bloodstream. The insulin acts like a key, opening up cells so they     can take in the sugar and use it as an energy source.
Sugar is one of the top energy sources for the body. The body gets     it in many forms, but mainly as carbohydrates that are broken down     to glucose during the digestive process. Examples of food rich in     carbohydrates are pasta, rice, bread, potatoes, and of course, all     sorts of sweets.
The cells of a person with diabetes have problems taking up glucose     due to either the lack of insulin or a resistance to insulin. Instead,     the sugar remains in the blood, resulting in the rise of blood glucose     levels.
People with type 1 diabetes must have injections of insulin every     day. Each diabetic patient needs an exact dose of insulin, calculated     especially for him or her. An overdose of insulin lowers the blood     sugar concentration. If it becomes too low, it can result in a coma     and eventually death. An overdose is treated by giving the patient     sugar in a form that is as pure as possible - for example, orange     juice or table sugar. If the patient is in a coma, glucose must be     injected directly into the bloodstream.
If a diabetic gets too little     insulin, he or she can go into a coma just as when overdosing insulin.     The two types of coma are very hard to distinguish from each other     without testing the blood glucose levels of the patient. If the     levels are low, the patient suffers from an overdose of insulin.     If blood glucose levels are high, the patient doesn't have enough     insulin.
Insulin helps a cell absorb glucose from the bloodstream.
 
 
Production of Insulin
So how is insulin for medical use made? For a long time insulin               was extracted from the pancreases of cattle or pigs, and then it               was purified so that it could be safely administered to humans. Today,               it's more common to instruct genetically modified bacteria or yeast     to produce a perfect copy of human insulin.
More About Diabetes
Type 1
In type 1 diabetes  the body's           immune system erroneously attacks its own beta cells, thereby destroying           insulin production. Why does this happen? Scientists do not know, but           it is likely that the condition develops gradually in a series of steps.           Starting from a hereditary predisposition, various environmental influences           (viral infections and poisoning are suspected) have to take effect,     one after the other, before the self-destruction of insulin begins.
With insulin treatment, a type 1 patient can live a perfectly normal     life. Left untreated however, type 1 diabetes can rapidly lead to     a life-threatening situation. The kidneys strive to remove the excess     glucose, which pulls water with it and leads to heavy urination and     an insatiable thirst. The fat cells are broken down to counter sugar     loss, and toxic levels of acids build up in the blood - a condition     known as ketoacidosis.
Symptoms of type 1 diabetes
excessive thirst and dehydration
hunger, accompanied by weight       loss
blurred vision
 
Type 2
Type 2 diabetes begins with insulin resistance. This means that     the cells don't react to insulin the way they are supposed to. Normally,     insulin binds to receptors on the cell surface. This activates the     cell's glucose transporter molecules to form a doorway in the cell     membrane so that glucose can enter the cell. However, when insulin     resistance occurs, there's a reduced response to the insulin signals.     Therefore, fewer doorways are formed and some glucose is locked out     of the cells.
Type 2 diabetes is often hard to discover. An average of seven years     passes from the onset of the disease to its diagnosis. This means     that a fraction of the patients already suffer damage to their blood     vessels, kidneys, eyes, or nerves. In most cases, type 2 diabetes     patients are instructed to lead a life with "a healthy diet     and lots of exercise." About one out of three patients receive     insulin. Many patients are treated with a variety of oral drugs that     affect blood glucose levels in various ways.
Symptoms of type 2 diabetes
fatigue