What is diabetes?
Diabetes is a chronic (long-lasting) health condition that affects how your body turns food into energy. Your body breaks down most of the food you eat into sugar (glucose) and releases it into your bloodstream. When your blood sugar goes up, it tells an organ in your body called your pancreas to release insulin. Insulin acts like a key to let the blood sugar into your body’s cells for use as energy. With diabetes, your body doesn’t make enough insulin or can’t use it as well as it should. When there isn’t enough insulin or cells stop responding to insulin, too much blood sugar stays in your bloodstream. Over time, that can cause serious health problems, such as heart disease, vision loss and kidney disease.
Risk factors are things that make someone more likely to have or develop diabetes. Some risk factors you cannot change like your genetics. However, others like your weight, eating habits and exercise routine can help prevent or manage diabetes.
Prediabetes
Prediabetes is a serious health condition where blood sugar levels are higher than normal, but not high enough yet to be diagnosed as type 2 diabetes. More than 1 in 3 American adults have prediabetes. Of those with prediabetes, most (more than 80%) don’t know they have it. The good news is that lifestyle changes like healthy eating and exercise can help!
You can have prediabetes for years without symptoms so it often does not get diagnosed before it becomes type 2 diabetes. It’s important to talk to your doctor about getting your blood sugar tested if you have any of the risk factors for prediabetes, such as:
- Being overweight
- Being 45 years or older
- Having a parent, brother or sister with type 2 diabetes
- Being physically active less than 3 times a week
- Ever having gestational diabetes (diabetes when pregnant) or giving birth to a baby who weighed more than 9 pounds.
- Having polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)
Race and ethnicity are also a factor: African Americans, Hispanic/Latino Americans, American Indians, Pacific Islanders and some Asian Americans are at higher risk.
Gestational diabetes
Gestational diabetes is a type of diabetes that can develop during pregnancy in women who don’t already have diabetes. Every year, 2% to 10% of pregnancies in the United States are affected by gestational diabetes
About 50% of women with gestational develop type 2 diabetes, but there are steps you can take to prevent it. Talk to your doctor about how to lower your risk and how often to have your blood sugar checked to make sure you’re on track.
Known risk factors include:
- Being overweight
- Not being physically active
- Family history of diabetes or having prediabetes
- Being a certain race or ethnicity such as Black, Hispanic, American Indian and Asian American
- Having given birth to baby weighing 9 pounds or more
Type 1 diabetes
Type 1 diabetes used to be called insulin-dependent or juvenile diabetes. It usually develops in children, teens and young adults, but it can happen at any age. It is thought to be caused by an immune reaction (the body attacks itself by mistake). Risk factors for type 1 diabetes are not as clear as for prediabetes and type 2 diabetes. Known risk factors include:
- Family history: Having a parent, brother or sister with type 1 diabetes.
- Age: You can get type 1 diabetes at any age, but it usually develops in children, teens, or young adults.
- Race/ethnicity: In the United States, White people are more likely to develop type 1 diabetes than African American and Hispanic or Latino people.
Currently, no one knows how to prevent type 1 diabetes, but it can be treated by:
- Following your doctor’s recommendations
- Healthy lifestyle choices
- Managing your blood sugar
- Getting regular health checkups
- Using diabetes self-management tools, education, and support
Type 2 diabetes
If you have type 2 diabetes, cells don’t respond normally to insulin. This is called insulin resistance. Your pancreas makes more insulin to try to get cells to respond. Eventually your pancreas can’t keep up, and your blood sugar rises, which can lead to prediabetes and type 2 diabetes. High blood sugar can damage the body and can cause other serious health problems, such as heart disease, vision loss and kidney disease.
More than 37 million Americans have diabetes (about 1 in 10), and approximately 90-95% of them have type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes most often develops in people over age 45, but more and more children, teens and young adults are also developing it.
Known risk factors include:
- Having a parent, brother, or sister with type 2 diabetes.
- Being 45 years or older
- Being overweight or obese
- Not being physically active
- History or gestational diabetes (diabetes when pregnant) or giving birth to a baby who weighed more than 9 pounds Being African American, Hispanic or Latino, American Indian or Alaska Native
Unlike other health conditions, diabetes is managed mostly by you, with support from your health care team. Managing diabetes can include healthy eating and being active, or your doctor may prescribe insulin or other medicines to help manage your blood sugar and avoid problems.
Tools
- Risk test
- Healthy recipes
- Meal planning plates
- Tools for testing and tracking your glucose levels
- Tracking your health:
Resources
Alliance trainings:
Learn about the National Diabetes Prevention Program: National Diabetes Prevention Program
Diabetes Self-Management Education and Support (DSMES) Toolkit: DSMES Toolkit
About diabetes:
- Diabetes.org
- CDC
- American Heart Association
- American Diabetes Association
- Wake Network of Care
- Durham Network of Care
- Education Library – NovoCare
- Interactive Course: Let’s Talk About Diabetes, Heart Disease, & Stroke
Resources for parents and caregivers:
