Diabetes is a condition connected with the metabolism. The food we eat usually breaks down into glucose and this is the major energy source for our organism.

Glucose enters the bloodstream after digestion and is used there by cells. But for this purposes insulin is needed. It is a hormone that is developed in pancreas. In a normal healthy person pancreas produces the required amount of insulin as soon as we start eating. But the whole thing gets different in a person with diabetes. Pancreas has two possible patterns of behaviour: it either develops no or very little insulin, or in the other case the cells reject the insulin produced. As a result glucose accumulates in the blood, enters the urine and leaves the body with it. This way a body looses the major energy source.

Diabetes can be differentiated into three types: type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, and gestational diabetes

Type 1 diabetes refers to autoimmune disease. Under this term we understand a condition when the immune system that usually struggles with infections starts to attack some part of the body. In case of diabetes the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas are attacked and ruined. There is no insulin produced and a person becomes dependant on the daily intake of insulin for the rest of his or her life.

The exact reason of such immune system behaviour is not known yet but autoimmune, genetic, and environmental factors, and viruses are suspected. Type 1 diabetes has the following symptoms: constant hunger, increased thirst and urination, weight loss, vision problems, and exhaustion. It is a very serious condition and if neglected can end up with diabetic coma (diabetic ketoacidosis).

Type 2 diabetes is a very frequent condition. It can come as a result of age; weight problems (obesity) is the most wide-spread reason, especially if a person leads inactive way of life; family history of diabetes can trigger the condition as well as history of gestational diabetes, and also – ethnicity.

In the case of type 2 diabetes there is sufficient amount of insulin produced by pancreas but the body does not use it properly causing insulin resistance. In this situation when insulin is not required its production decreases and, again, glucose accumulates in the blood and major energy source is wasted.

In opposition to type 1 diabetes the symptoms of type 2 diabetes show up slowly and progressively. In some cases no symptoms are experiences by a patient; but the most frequent are easy and frequent susceptibility to infections, fatigue or nausea, frequent urination and thirst, weight loss, vision problems, and slow healing.

The last type of diabetes is called gestational diabetes and it is characteristic for women in a state of pregnancy (especially of the following ethnicity: African Americans, American Indians, Hispanic Americans); a family history of diabetes in women is also a triggering factor. Frequently gestational diabetes leads to type 2 diabetes in women in older age.