What is Diabetes?
Most of the food that we consume is broken down into glucose. Various hormones regulate blood glucose levels; most important among them is insulin. Insulin is essential to maintain blood glucose within normal limits. With the help of insulin body tissues utilize glucose. When glucose level in the blood increases, insulin is produced and it brings back the glucose to normal levels. The blood sugar levels drop as soon as the glucose enters the cells.
However, a person with diabetes is affected with hyperglycemia, a medical condition of an elevated glucose level (>160mg/dl). The increased glucose level may be due to the following reasons:
- Insufficient insulin production by pancreas
- Improper uptake of the glucose by cells due to Insulin resistance