Common Characteristics of Diabetes (Maturity)
Diabetes is a chronic disease in which, because of an insufficiency or total lack of the hormone
insulin, the body cannot use the sugars and starches in the diet properly. The disease takes two
forms: insulin-dependent (juvenile-onset) and non-insulin-dependent (maturity-onset) diabetes.
The latter can usually be controlled without insulin (hence the name) and is the less serious form
of diabetes. Non-insulin-dependent diabetes usually affects people 40 years of age or older and
is more common among women than among men. Many of those affected are overweight, some seriously so.
It seems probable that the condition is due to an inherited predisposition and that some external
agent is required to convert the genetic tendency into the disease. What that external agent is,
is not known.
Insulin
The hormone insulin is produced by small cells in the islets of Langerhans, scattered throughout
the pancreas. Insulin regulates the body's use of sugar by metabolizing glucose so that it can be
used for immediate energy needs or stored for future use in the form of glycogen. (Glucose is the
main source of energy for all body cells; it is derived from carbohydrates during the digestive
process or from fats or proteins that are converted to glucose.)
Non-insulin-dependent diabetes results from the failure of the islets to produce sufficient insulin
to overcome a number of anti-insulin factors that occur in certain individuals.
Symptoms and Diagnosis
The most common symptom of diabetes is thirst, accompanied by frequent urination (as often as once
an hour). There may be repeated infections of the skin, gums or urinary tract and fatigue, weakness
or apathy. Tingling sensations in the hands and feet, cramps in the legs and blurred vision are
further symptoms. Sometimes there are no apparent symptoms at all, and the condition is detected in
the course of a routine medical checkup.
The presence of diabetes is confirmed by a simple test in which the fasting blood glucose level is
measured; if it is persistently elevated, the patient has diabetes.
