What Is Diabetes?

Nearly 15 million people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with diabetes - and roughly 6 million more have it and don't know it.¹ Still, even though diabetes affects 7% of our population, many people know very little about the disease.

Diabetes occurs when a person's body doesn't create insulin, or can't properly use the insulin it does produce. To understand diabetes, it helps to know how your body uses food for fuel. The food you eat is turned into sugar, which is carried through the bloodstream to your body's cells. Insulin, a hormone created by your pancreas, is like a key that unlocks the cells to let sugar in. Without insulin, sugar stays in the bloodstream instead of providing energy to your cells.

Symptoms of Diabetes

Some of the symptoms include:

frequent urination
excessive thirst
extreme hunger
unusual weight loss
increased fatigue
irritability

• blurry vision

There are two "types" of diabetes:

Type 1 diabetes occurs when a person's body doesn't make its own insulin, so they must "take" insulin daily.² It most often affects children and young adults.

• Type 2 diabetes occurs when the pancreas doesn't make enough insulin, or the body isn't able to use the insulin it does make. Type 2 diabetes can affect people at any age, although 80% of people with type 2 diabetes are overweight.²

Both types have similar effects on the body, and are often treated in similar ways - through regular blood sugar testing, careful food choices, frequent exercise, and insulin or other medications.

¹ Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "National Diabetes Fact Sheet: General Information and National Estimates on Diabetes in the United States, 2005."

² National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). "Diabetes Overview."

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