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Home \ Health Information \ Diabetes \ Diabetes Overview \ What is Diabetes?
What is Diabetes?
Diabetes Overview What is Diabetes?
English
In this section:
Type 1 Diabetes
What are the di erent types of diabetes?
Type 2 Diabetes
How common is diabetes? Who is more likely to develop type 2 diabetes?
Insulin Resistance & Prediabetes
What health problems can people with diabetes develop?
Gestational Diabetes
Diabetes is a disease that occurs when your blood glucose, also called blood sugar, is too high.
Monogenic Diabetes
Blood glucose is your main source of energy and comes from the food you eat. Insulin, a hormone made by the pancreas, helps glucose from food get into your cells to be used for
Symptoms & Causes
energy. Sometimes your body doesn’t make enough—or any—insulin or doesn’t use insulin well. Glucose then stays in your blood and doesn’t reach your cells.
Risk Factors for Type 2 Diabetes
Preventing Type 2 Diabetes
Over time, having too much glucose in your blood can cause health problems. Although diabetes has no cure, you can take steps to manage your diabetes and stay healthy. Sometimes people call diabetes “a touch of sugar” or “borderline diabetes.” These terms
Diabetes Tests & Diagnosis
suggest that someone doesn’t really have diabetes or has a less serious case, but every case of diabetes is serious.
Managing Diabetes
Insulin, Medicines, & Other Diabetes Treatments
Diabetes Diet, Eating, & Physical Activity Preventing Diabetes Problems
Clinical Trials
Diabetes a ects just about everyone, from the over 110 million Americans with or at risk for the disease to the many more people who care for them.
What are the di erent types of diabetes? The most common types of diabetes are type 1, type 2, and gestational diabetes.
Type 1 diabetes If you have type 1 diabetes, your body does not make insulin. Your immune system attacks and destroys the cells in your pancreas that make insulin. Type 1 diabetes is usually diagnosed in children and young adults, although it can appear at any age. People with type 1 diabetes need to take insulin every day to stay alive.
Type 2 diabetes If you have type 2 diabetes, your body does not make or use insulin well. You can develop type 2 diabetes at any age, even during childhood. However, this type of diabetes occurs most often in middle-aged and older people. Type 2 is the most common type of diabetes.
Gestational diabetes Gestational diabetes develops in some women when they are pregnant. Most of the time, this type of diabetes goes away after the baby is born. However, if you’ve had gestational diabetes, you have a greater chance of developing type 2 diabetes later in life. Sometimes diabetes diagnosed during pregnancy is actually type 2 diabetes.