What is Diabetes?

Diabetes is a chronic condition caused by an inability to create and/or regulate the hormone Insulin. Insulin’s role in the body is to turn sugars into an energy source to fuel the needs of everyday living. The main symptom of diabetes is irregular levels of blood glucose, whether it becomes too high (hyperglycemia) or too low (hypoglycemia). Diabetes is a disease that encompasses both extreme ends of the spectrum of blood sugar levels.

There are two major types of diabetes. Type 1 — the immune system works against the body and attacks the cell responsible for creating insulin, occurring in the pancreas. People suffering from type 1 diabetes require external sources of insulin used in insulin treatments. Supplementing insulin comes in the form of a pen/syringe injection or an insulin pump.