The Definition of Diabetes and Prediabetes (Cont'd)

How Do Insulin Resistance and Diabetes Affect the Body?

Described simply, diabetes is the inability to control your blood glucose (sugar) without making a conscious effort. Characteristics of diabetes mellitus include excessive blood glucose levels, which result from the body's inability to use blood glucose for energy.⁹

This inability to use blood glucose can stem from resistance to insulin. The hormone insulin tells other cells when to use glucose for energy. It sparks the process of converting glucose into fuel for the body.

The pancreas, an organ located behind the lower part of the stomach, produces not only insulin but other chemicals used in digesting food.¹⁰

If insulin fails to shuttle the glucose into the cells, the glucose remains in the bloodstream and cells do not receive the fuel they need. The glucose in the bloodstream then rises to inappropriate highs, accumulating in blood vessels and affecting organs and nerves. In an effort to flush the excess glucose out, the kidneys pull more water out of the bloodstream -- occasionally causing the need to urinate and drink more frequently.

As one ages, cells can become resistant to insulin. Diabetes can also stem from problems with function of the pancreas and its production of insulin. However, sometimes this process occurs so slowly that there are no symptoms, which causes long delays in diagnosis. As blood glucose levels increase, the pancreas becomes less efficient at producing insulin and eventually stops producing it.

Insulin resistance -- the body's inability to respond to and use the insulin it produces -- is also linked to being overweight, having high blood pressure, and having high levels of cholesterol in the blood.¹¹

⁹ National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases [NIDDK]. (2002) The Diabetes Dictionary. NIH Publication No. 02-3016. Available at NIDDK on the World Wide Web: www.niddk.nih.gov/health/diabetes/pubs/dmdict/dmdict.htm.

¹⁰ Ibid.

¹¹ Ibid.