Diabetics: Diabetes

Diabetes is a disease affecting the manner in which the body handles digested
carbohydrates. If neglected, diabetes can cause extremely severe
health complications, ranging from blindness to kidney failure.

Around eight percent of the population in the United States has
diabetes. This means that around sixteen million people have been
diagnosed with the disease, based only on national statistics. The
American Diabetes Association estimates that diabetes accounts for
178,000 deaths, as well as 54,000 amputees, and 12,000-24,000 cases
of blindness annually. Blindness is twenty-five times even more
common among diabetic patients in comparison with nondiabetics. If
current trends continue, by the year 2010 complications of diabetes
will exceed both heart disease and cancer as the leading cause of
death in America.

Diabetics have a high level of blood glucose. Blood sugar level is
regulated by insulin, a hormone secreted by the pancreas, which
releases it in response to carbohydrate consumption. Insulin causes
the cells of the body to absorb glucose from the blood. The glucose
then serves as fuel for cellular functions.