Diabetes mellitus

Diabetes Mellitus is a metabolic disorder caused by a lack of insulin or a loss of responsiveness to insulin. It can result from incomplete development of, damage to, or disease of the islets of langerhans, the endocrine portion of the pancreas whhich secretes insulin
Type 1; usually occurs suddenly in childhood. it appears to be an autoimmune disease; cells from the immune system attack beta cells in the islets of langerhan, destroying a persons ability to secrete insulin
Type 2; usually occurs later in life. It is often caused by a gradual loss in the responiveness of cells to insulin, but it can also be due to an insulin deficiency
Most people with type 1 diabetes are treated with insulin injections. Insulin cannot be taken orally, because, being a protein it would be digested in the alimentary canal. Insulin used to be obtainable only from non-human sources, but recombinat DNA technology has made human insulin available
Most type 2 diabetics can control their blood glucose concentration by carefully regulating their diet and exercise. These people tend to become less responsive to insulin as they age. this can be ofset if necessary by injecting insulin

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	Created by harry_bygraves over 11 years ago