Your Diabetes QUESTIONS, Answered

DIABETES IS ONE OF THE MOST COMMON CHRONIC ILLNESSES IN THE COUNTRY, with nearly 15% of adults dealing with some form of the disease.

- JIHAN MYERS

While there are different types of diabetes, all involve an excess of glucose (a.k.a. sugar) in the blood.

Here are the basics: When you eat and drink, your body breaks down the substances you're consuming into glucose, which then enters your bloodstream. This triggers your pancreas to release the hormone insulin, which gets to work moving glucose out of the blood and into your cells so your body can convert it into energy. Any extra glucose that your body doesn't currently need for energy gets stored in your liver and muscles for later use. But when issues with insulin function disrupt this process, leading to excess amounts of sugar in the blood, over time this can result in type 2 diabetes. Here's what you need to know:

What are the most common types of diabetes?

While there are many different kinds-including gestational diabetes, which occurs during pregnancy, and several rare types influenced by genetics-the most common kinds by far are type 1 and type 2.

TYPE 1 DIABETES