The Street Articles

Type 1 and type 2 diabetes are two different diseases. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease that prevents the pancreas from producing adequate amounts of insulin to maintain normal blood sugar levels. This form of diabetes is usually diagnosed in children and young adults. The exact cause is unknown but genetics and environmental factors may play a role in this disease. Like type 1 diabetes, the exact cause of type 2 diabetes is hard to pinpoint, but it is likely that genetics and lifestyle play a role in the development of insulin resistance which ultimately can lead to type 2 diabetes when left untreated. When someone has insulin resistance their body’s cells struggle to respond to the effects of a “normal” amount of insulin. The job of insulin is to reduce glucose, so when the body doesn’t respond to insulin, it eventually causes high blood sugar. However, first, the pancreas tries to fix the high blood sugar by producing even more insulin. Prolonged increases in insulin c