Diabetes

Essay by EssaySwap ContributorCollege, Undergraduate February 2008

download word file, 7 pages 1.0

Diabetes is a circumstance in which a break down occurs in the metabolism of the food into power for the human body. It is a serious disorder that effects millions and millions of people each year. The chief feature of diabetes is the lack of insulin. Diabetes is one of the oldest diseases known to this date. Since the Ancient days, scientist have made many medical discovers that helps treat diabetes.(Dolger and Seeman 14).

There are two forms of diabetes, Type 1 and Type 2. A person with Type I diabetes depends on insulin, therefore, they must acquire shots of insulin every day from a syringe. This type of diabetes typically affects a person before they turn thirty. There pancreas does not produce the insulin that is required to turn sugar into energy. A person with Type II diabetes does not dependent on insulin shots. They can produce insulin, but not fast enough to maintain high intakes of foods with high sugar counts.

The main treatments for this type of diabetes is a firmly restricted diet and exercise. This type of diabetes generally occurs in seriously overweight adults over the age of thirty.

There is not a cure for diabetes. Fortunately, several treatments for the disease have been discovered. The most significant development in treatment for diabetes was the discovery of insulin. ?Insulin was discovered in 1921 by Sir Frederick Banting, Charles H. Best, and John James Rickard Macleod? (Encyclopedia Britannica). ?Insulin is a hormone normally produced in the organ of the body called the pancreas? (Web MD). Inside of the pancreas are cells called the islets of Langerhans (Dolger and Seeman 16). Inside of the islets of Langerhans are specialized cells called beta cells. These cells produce the body's insulin. The function of insulin is necessary for the...